L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan; President Alassane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire and representative of the President of Republic of Suriname, Mr. Henk Herrenberg, signing the condolence register for the late President John Atta Mills during the final burial ceremony in Accra, Ghana, yesterday.
PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

Appointment of Defence Minister

Jonathan consults
OBJ, IBB
700 Nigerian troops deployed in Liberia

P. 7

P. 12

Living

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August 11, 2012

INSIDE

Kidnappers kill surgeon
over unpaid ransom

•Some people pocketed the
ransom, associate alleges
Dr. Canice Omeziri was 62 years old
and in love with his people. But when
the time came for them to return the
gesture, something happened. Now, he
is dead and the ransom meant for his
kidnappers is hanging somewhere.

he Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria, MTUN
and the Autobike Owners Association
of Nigeria, AOWAN, Chief Jimmy
Okonkwo, narrowly escaped death few
days ago when gunmen suspected to
be members of a rival group attacked
him at Ekwulobia in Aguata Local
Government Area of Anambra State.
The union leader, speaking from his
hospital bed, has said that he can easily identify five of his attackers.
Still nursing his bandaged deep
machete cuts and bullet-riddled body,
Okonkwo, who reeled out the names to
newsmen yesterday in an interview at
his hospital bed, disclosed that his attackers were the same armed bandits
who attacked him and some other motorists about three weeks ago at Oba
Junction in the Idemili South Local
Government Area of Anambra State
when they mounted a robbery operation along the Onitsha/Owerri dual
carriage way.
He said he would soon go to the state
police headquarters, Awka to give the
names of those he could identify to the
state Commissioner of Police, Ballah
Nassarawa, for prompt action, after
taking a medical x-ray to ascertain
whether or not he still has internal
bleeding .
He therefore urged the InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed, and the state CP, Nassarawa,
to come to his rescue by ensuring that

those gunmen who are bent on terminating his life for no just cause are arrested and prosecuted, no matter how
highly placed.
The gunmen, numbering about 10,
had on Monday, August 6, shot and
robbed Okonkwo about two poles away
from one of the new generation banks
(Ecobank Plc) shortly after he withdrew the sum of N3 million cash from
the bank.
According to eye witnesses, as soon
as Okonkwo withdrew the cash from
the bank and was escorted to his redcoloured Chrysler car and drove off up
to two poles from the bank premises,
two Mitsubishi buses carrying about
10 armed men allegedly blocked his vehicle, one in front and the other at the
rear.
It was gathered that as soon as
they succeeded in blocking him, they
jumped down and some of them started
firing gunshots at him, while others
forced the car doors open and allegedly
used axes and cutlasses on him, while
one of his staff who was with him in
the vehicle managed to escape.
The source further hinted that while
the attacks lasted, the hoodlums allegedly took N362,000 from his car door
mat and were still struggling to open
the car boot to take the N3 miilion,
which he had just withdrawn before
they got wind of a fast-approaching
police van and they quickly abandoned
him and his vehicle, jumped into their
two buses and zoomed off.
The police team arrived the scene,
took him and his vehicle to Ekwulobia
Police Station and recovered the N3

million still intact inside the car boot
before he collapsed and became unconscious as a result of the severe attacks
on him.
It was also gathered that while the
police rushed him to a nearby hospital
where he is currently recuperating, the
bank officials who just paid him the N3
million cash he had just withdrawn before the attack rushed to the police station, confirmed the withdrawal to the
police who in turn, remitted the money
back to the bank.
Confirming the incident yesterday
in a telephone chat, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO-in-charge of Ekwulobia Police Division, Mr. Sunday Adama,
said the police were waiting for his recovery so that he could come forward
and make an official statement to enable them commence investigations,
adding that already, the matter had
been transferred to the police headquarters at Awka.
Also speaking to newsmen over the
incident, the member representing
Anaocha I Constituency in Anambra
State House of Assembly, Hon. Ebele
Ejiofor, who also visited him at the
hospital, condemned the dastardly act
and warned criminals to retrace their
steps.
The Ogirishi Igbo, Chief Rommy
Ezeonwuka, and the National Director of Information of the Movement
for Actualization of Sovereign State of
Biafra (MASSOB), Comrade Uchenna
Madu, who also spoke on the incident,
warned criminals to steer clear of Igbo
land or be fished out and dealt with accordingly.

Saturday Mirror
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3

August 11, 2012

Saturday Starter

Fanning the embers of

self determination

N

igeria is big. Yes, very big. It
is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest concentration of black people. Made up
of quite a number of ethnic nationalities, it is blessed with a very rich cultural base.
With its estimated population of
about 170 million people, there is no
doubt that its big size has become its
strength.
Previous governments and the current one have seen the benefits of the
unity of the different nationalities that
make up the entity called Nigeria, and
defended it very well. They have guarded it jealously such that to advocate for
a breaking away of any of the nationalities would be tantamount to committing a heinous crime against the state.
The constitution even abhors such with
a passion.
Many Nigerians agree too that the

advantages in the oneness of the ethnic nationalities cannot be overemphasised. That is perhaps why the Nigerian government would do everything
possible to make sure that the whole is
not shattered into pieces.
Despite the advantages, there have
been different attempts by some of the
nationalities to go their separate ways.
The reasons are often not far-fetched.
Among other things, they point out the
marginalization of their people; they
complain about the violation of the
rights.
And to get the emancipation of their
people, they have resolved to go their
own way, but the attempts have been resisted.
The example that readily comes to
mind is the declaration of the State of
Biafra by Chukwuemeka OdumegwuOjukwu for the Igbo people on 30th May

1967. The declaration led to a 30-month
war which was declared by Nigeria on
July 6 of the same year.
Although unequal to the declaration
of a State of Biafra in any way, only
last week, a faction of the Movement for
the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP),
led by former president of the National
Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), Goodluck Diigbo, declared self
government for the people of Ogoni in
Rivers State.
Of course, the government has expressed its execration for the abomination. According to the governor of
Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, the declaration was equal in effect to treason,
and that comes with an unpalatable
consequence.
But the question is: Should such a
declaration of self-rule be taken with
any ounce of seriousness?

4

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Saturday Starter

A MASSOB demonstration

‘Our right to autonomy’
TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

“B

y this declaration of political autonomy, we, the
Ogoni people are determined to enforce the United Nations
Declaration on Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, without fear or retreat,” droned
the voice of Dr. Goodluck Diigbo, President and spokesman of a faction of the
Movement for the Survival of Ogoni
People (MOSOP) in a live broadcast on
a newly established radio station Voice
of Ogoni.
It was Thursday, 2 August, 2012. Finally, a faction of MOSOP had actualised the thoughts and probably hopes of
some leaders and people of Ogoni land.
The Ogoni people are one of the
many indigenous peoples of the oil rich
Niger-Delta region of the country.
They share common oil-related environmental problems with the Ijaw and
otherpeople of Niger Delta, but Ogonis
are not listed in the list of people historically belonging to Niger Delta. They
number about 1.5 million people and
live in a 1,050 km2 homeland which they
also refer to as Ogoni.
It is also the home land of the late environmentalist and writer, Kenule Saro
Wiwa.
Diigbo, in the broadcast, affirmed
that self-government within Nigeria
would secure for the Ogoni people, their
indigenous rights, enable them to meet
their needs and interests and finally end
internal colonialism.
He said that self-government became

urgent recognising the need to arrive at a
consensus to collectively review the disputed UNEP Ogoniland Oil Assessment
report, as any dialogue must be with the
genuinely elected representatives of the
people expected to enforce indigenous
rights without dictation.
The Ogoni rose to international attention after a massive public protest campaign against Shell Oil, led by MOSOP.

Among other things, MOSOP in its 1990
Ogoni Bill of Rights had demanded political autonomy to participate in the
affairs of Nigeria as a distinct and separate indigenous unit, provided that this
autonomy guarantees political control
of Ogoni affairs by Ogoni people; the
right to control and use a fair proportion of Ogoni economic resources for
Ogoni development; adequate represen-

tations, as of right, in all Nigerian national institutions, and the right to protect the Ogoni environment and ecology
from further degradation as recognised
under international law.
This proclamation by a faction of
MOSOP has, however, been greeted by
kudos, knocks and indifference.
First to react is the governor of the
state directly involved: Rivers.

It is not the wish of all Ogoni people –Uranta

H

ow do you see the recent declaration of political autonomy of the Ogoni people?
We all know that the United Nations
has given minority or ethnic groups the
right to self autonomy. We are all aware
that there have been moves in Nigeria
in the past, even after the Biafran War
by different groups to obtain autonomy.
The groups include: Oodua Peoples’
Congress, Ijaw Youth Councils, MASSOB and even at one time some northern groups including the Middle Belts
Forum. However, we do not believe that
this is the wish of all the Ogoni people at
this time. Although we do not begrudge
whoever has come up with this proposal
or motion of their right to express themselves, associate and seek whatever they
wish, provided they do so within the
bounds of the law and the constitution
existing at the moment in Nigeria.
We feel strongly so that this shows
more than ever before the need for dialogue on state, regional and national
levels. You will also notice that even the
Bayelsa State government has recently

announced its state flag, state anthem
and possible state constitution, which really are the fundamental rights of every
component units in a federal state. All
these obtain since 1966 in Nigeria, when
all regions have their anthems, constitutions and flags. We need to return to the
discussion table to address things and
the abnormally of our so-called federal
system and coming to an understanding
that it is all encompassing and acceptable to all component units of Nigeria.
Don’t you see other ethnic groups
following suit?
I think the more people that follow
the Ogoni move to announce unilateral
declaration of autonomy, the more we
would find ourselves forced to come to a
negotiating table in Nigeria. It is all well
and good for anybody to call it treason
but truly it is not treason provided it is
within the bounds of treaties, statues or
decisions that Nigeria is party to in the
United Nations.
Mr. Tony Uranta, Executive Secretary of National Summit Group

Uranta

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5

August 11, 2012

Saturday Starter

Ogoni student demonstrating for self determination

The embers of self determination
Governor Rotimi Amaechi described
the declaration of as treasonable felony.
Amaechi, said Diigbo’s aim is not
achievable adding that the man would flee
at the slightest attempt to question him by
the security agencies.
“On Ogoni autonomy, I wish them
well. Ogoni autonomy is not achievable.
The man (Diigbo) who declared Ogoni autonomy will run into the bush tomorrow
morning.
“What Diigbo is doing is treasonable
felony. You do not declare autonomy on the
pages of newspapers and magazines or on
radio and television,” Amaechi said.
It is not only Amaechi who descended
hard on Diigbo and his declaration, the
other faction of his group did too. It immediately dissociated itself from it.
The faction, managed by a Provisional
Council with Professor Ben Naanen as
chairman and Dr. Meshach Karanwi as
secretary said Diigbo is on his own.
Naanen and Karanwi said they received
“the purported declaration of “Ogoni Autonomy Day” by Diigbo “with dismay”.
In statement signed by both of them,
they said Diigbo’s claim of Ogoni people
voting for autonomy via a referendum was
false.
“At no time did the Ogoni people take
any decision to establish a sovereign nationhood. The Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR)
is clear on the aspiration of Ogoni people
in Nigeria. The Ogoni, according to OBR,
want adequate representation in all the institutions of the Nigerian state as a matter
of right. They want their economic, social
and political rights to be protected in the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. A people aspiring to sovereignty cannot also be asking for representation at the same time,”
the other faction of MOSOP declared.

The statement from Naanen MOSOP
also accused Diigbo’s MOSOP of putting
Bori, the headquarters of Ogoni people
under tension since Tuesday July 31, 2012
through the use of groups of young men
armed with automatic and other dangerous weapons.
“These young men are connected to Mr
Diigbo. They attacked the Peace and Freedom Centre (MOSOP Complex) in Bori,
causing considerable destruction while
the staff of the centre suffered various degrees of injury. The attack was a prelude
to their celebration of the so-called “Ogoni Autonomy Day” on Thursday August 2.
“MOSOP is calling on the government
to take lawful measures to check Goodluck
Diigbo’s anti-state activities and protect
lives and property in Ogoni as these cult

boys remain an enduring threat to peace
in the Bori area and other parts of Ogoni.”
MOSOP, as the case may be, is in fact
one of the self actualisation groups in the
country. Others include: the Odua People’s
Congress (OPC), Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra
(MASSOB) and Arewa Peoples’ Congress
(APC). None of the other group has, however, gone the length which it (MOSOP)
has.
The OPC is a militant Yoruba nationalist organisation situated in the SouthWest geo-political zone of the country.
It was formed when a group of Yoruba
elite, including Dr. Frederick Fasehun decided to form an organisation to actualise
the annulled mandate of Chief Moshood
Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, a Yor-

uba who won the annulled June 12, 1993
presidential election but was barred
from office.
The group along other major ethnic
groups in the country fought tirelessly
during the June 12 annulment struggle
to regain Abiola’s mandate. During the
struggle, several leaders of the group,
such as Fasehun, Otunba Gani Adams,
among others were arrested and detained by the military government. But
OPC never relented in defending the
cause of the Yorubas, especially on issues bordering on the region’s interest.
The APC is a group in the northern
part of the country established to protect the interests of the Hausa and FuCONTINUED ON PAGE 6

No govt can force unity on the people –Yerima

W

hat is your take on the
MOSOP declaration?
They are entitled to their
opinion because under the international law by United Nations, which Nigeria
is a member, any region or tribe has the
right to declare its political autonomy
and it is left for the government to either accept it or not. For as long as we
remain a member of the UN, we are part
and parcel of that agreement so it is
binding on us. So, there is nothing special about it.

Yerima

Don’t you think it could create
confusion in the country?
Nigerians would have loved to stay
together but what is the need of staying
together in a country where there are a

lot of injustices in the system. Nigerian
leaders are sick upstairs; they are sick
and they cannot move the country to
another level. All you see daily is threat
to life, insecurity, lack of sincerity of
purpose and political will and inability
to address issues. What is important in
staying as a nation without any answer
to some of our problems? So, if people
are tired and they decided that they
don’t want to be together, you can’t force
unity on people. So, the day we are tired,
we in other ethnic groups will declare
that we need our autonomy and there is
nothing anybody can do about it.
Comrade Shetima Yerima, President Arewa Youth Consultative Forum

6

August 11, 2012

Saturday Starter
It is not a constitutional matter –Aturu

W

hat can you say about the
declaration?
The truth of the matter is
that I don’t know whether that declaration is by the people themselves. I don’t
know whether it is a decision process by
the people of Ogoni. But if it is, then I
think it is a very great challenge in the
sense that government must have to deal
with it. The government cannot just dismiss them and say they are not serious
minded people. What the government
has to do is to find a way of engaging
them. I belong to that school of thought
that says that people have right to self
determination under international law.
So, if the people of Ogoni have decided
to go, they have the right. But I think the
right attitude is to say; “Look what are
the issues, let us discuss,” but not just to

Aturu

It should be done at National Conference –Fasehun

H

ow would you react to the declaration for
political autonomy of the Ogoni people by
MOSOP?
I am of the view that such unilateral action is not called
for. If anybody is interested in showing grievances, they
should wait till we meet at the National Conference. It is
only the National Conference that can persuade people to
stay in the federation or allow people to go. After all, we
have such a thing in Ethiopia and the government that
is involved became so enticing that people who had withdrawn from the federation applied to return and they did.
I do not subscribe to unilateral action. Nigeria should now
begin to dispense social justice to all its constituents so
that we may desire national unity.

Fasehun

lani. It has been described as a militant
wing of the Arewa Consultative Forum
(ACF).
The group was formally launched on
December 13, 1999. It was chaired by a
retired army officer, Brigadier General
Sagir Muhammed, who had been an operative in the Directorate of Military Intelligence. The APC has a motto ‘to preserve the indivisibility of the country.’
The group was believed to have been
established then for full self-defence
training for northern residents in some
parts of the country, especially in reaction to attacks on the Hausas by the OPC.
Another group is MASSOB. It is the
Igbo militant group. The group since
its inception has been championing the
cause of the of the Igbo nation. It is believed to be working towards the actualisation of the Biafra, which was first
declared by the late Dim Chukwuemeka
Ojukwu in 1967 for session of the Igbo

he leadership of Pro National
Conference Organization, PRONACO backs the declaration of
the Ogoni people for political autonomy
and self determination of their people
and territory within Nigeria. We are of
the view that the time has come for the
indigenous peoples and federating units
in Nigeria to deliver their peoples and
territories from the pilfering and violent
centralized structure operating in the
country.
The Ogoni peoples’ declaration for
self determination and political autonomy is long awaited and the only way to go
for the Nigerian federating peoples since
the predatory political cartel in the country is not willing to allow the Nigerian
people negotiate and agree the terms of
their well being at a national conference.
Comrade Wale Okunniyi, spokesman of Pro National Conference Organisation (PRONACO)

What is the implication of the MOSOP action to
national unity?
The nation cannot condone such unilateral action. The
nation of course can take steps to repair any damage that
has been done.
Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, President Oodua Peoples’
Congress (OPC)

‘Our right to autonomy’
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

‘Peaceful method
better than violence’

T

say, “They can go to hell.” All these show
that people are dissatisfied with our system and federation.
Do you think the action of MOSOP
is constitutional?
Nigerians did not come together constitutionally. In 1914 they were different
people, so when people want to go you
can be using constitution. Whether or
not they have right to self determination
under international law is what is important. The constitution is a document
and we cannot be using constitution to
discuss an extra-constitutional matter.
This issue is political, social, cultural,
socio-economic issue; it is not constitutional matter alone.
Mr. Bamidele Aturu, human rights
activist and lawyer.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

from Nigeria. MASSOB is under the
leadership of Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.
While there is yet to be a move by the
Federal Government to either castigate
or recognise the declaration by the faction of MOSOP, Nigerians have not been
silent in their reaction to the action.
Mr. Tony Uranta is the Executive Secretary of the National Summit Group. To
him, though the action of Diigbo is permitted under the provision of the United
Nations, however, it should not be a unilateral action carried out by a group or
a group of people rather it should be approved by all Ogoni.
“We all know that the United Nations
has given minority or ethnic groups the
right to self autonomy. However, we do
not believe that this is the wish of all the
Ogoni people at this time,” he added.
To Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, founder of
OPC, Diigbo’s action if at all necessary,
should have been ratified by a bigger
body, the National Conference.
“I am of the view that such unilateral
action is not called for. If anybody is in-

terested in showing any grievance, they
should wait till we meet at the National
Conference. It is only the National Conference that can persuade people to stay
in the federation or allow people to go,”
he stressed.
Comrade Shetima Yerima, President
Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, is,
however, indifferent. His take: if it is accepted by the Federal Government, so be
it.
“They are entitled to their opinion because under the International law of the
United Nations, which Nigeria is a member, any region or tribe has the right to
declare its political autonomy and it is
left for the government to either accept
or not,” he stated.
Mr. Bamidele Aturu is a human rights
activist and lawyer. To him, there should
be a process and procedure. If it was the
decision of the people, it could hold.
“I belong to that school of thought
that says that people have right to self
determination under international law.
So, if the people of Ogoni have decided

Okunniyi

to go, they have right to that under the
international law,” he pointed out.
The leadership of Pro National Conference Organisation, (PRONACO) has,
however, thrown its weight behind the
declaration of the faction of MOSOP.
Its spokesman, Comrade Wale Okunniyi, expressed the stance of the group
when he said: “The leadership of Pro
National
Conference
Organisation,
(PRONACO) backs the declaration of
the Ogoni people for political autonomy
and self determination of their people
and territory within Nigeria. We are of
the view that the time has come for the
indigenous people and federating units
in Nigeria to deliver their people and
territories from the pilfering and violent
centralised structure operating in the
country.”
The question on the lips of many a
Nigerian and the international community now is: will the self determination
and autonomy of the Ogoni people as declared by Diigbo and his group hold or
not?

early two months
after the Dr. Bello
Haliru
Mohammed was sacked as the
nation’s Minister of Defence, the Presidency may
have relaxed the urgency
in appointing another one
until the consultation between President Goodluck
Jonathan and two former
leaders, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo and General
Ibrahim Babangida is concluded.
Until now, the media have
been awashed with several
names as possible replacement for the former minister
who was relieved of his post
alongside the National Security Adviser, Major General
Patrick Aziza, by President
Jonathan.
While Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) was announced as
Aziza’s replacement as NSA,

the Presidency kept the public guessing on the likely successor of Mohammed.
Although President Jonathan would have wanted the
new Defence Minister to be
announced before the recent
visit of the United States
Secretary of States, Hilary
Clinton, the consultation between the president and the
former heads of state which
has reached advanced stage,
it was gathered, stalled the
announcement.
A source told Saturday
Mirror that Chief Obasanjo
did not feel comfortable
with President Jonathan
surrounding himself with
former loyalists of IBB as
security aides and would
prefer the Defence Minister
coming from the South.
While Colonel Dasuki,
a former ADC to IBB has
since resumed as President
Jonathan’s security adviser,
the favoured candidacy of
Lt-Gen. Aliyu Gusau (rtd), a

former NSA and close associate of IBB has continued to
elicit some concern in some
quarters.
According to the source,
“the next defence minister
will be announced soon after the consultation that is
going on presently between
the president and the former
leaders.
“I can confirm that notable names who have served
this country in several capacities are being considered but the Presidency is
also aware that the slot became vacant only because
the minister from one of the
northern states was dropped
and it is only proper that the
state or the zone be accommodated in the executive
council.”
Another source told Saturday Mirror that although
the president was not in
a haste to make the final
choice, some interest groups
were lobbying that a particu-

lar political zone produce the
next defence minister.
The source claimed that
because of the sensitive nature of the defence sector,
the president reportedly favoured a military technocrat
to head the ministry instead
of a politician again.
Stakeholders from the
South-South
geo-political
zone are contending that
the positions of NSA and
defence minister should not
both go to the north.
Former governorship aspirant in Rivers State, Chief
Sergeant Awuse, has called
on President Goodluck Jonathan to appoint somebody
from the South-south region
as the new Minister of Defence.
Awuse said since Azazi
came from the South-South
zone of the country, if the
Presidency was to maintain
a balance in appointments,
it was only natural to give
the defence portfolio to somebody from the region since
the new NSA comes from Sokoto State in the North-West

of Nigeria.
He noted that for Azazi to
be given the NSA position in
the first instance, the SouthSouth region had to give up
other positions.
According to him, it
would be unfair to the region
if the defence portfolio is not
given to the South-South.
“I am saying that the
NSA to be given to the SouthSouth, Bayelsa specifically;
other positions had been
given to other sections of the
country. President Jonathan
has to give the position of
Minister of Defence to the
South-South.”
Two former military
chiefs, General Alexander
Ogomudia and Air Chief
Marshal Paul Dike, are
among two notable Nigerians being projected from the
zone as possible choice of the
government as the next Minister of Defence.
Ogomudia is a former
Chief of Defence Staff, a
similar post once occupied
by Dike, who was also the
first Air Force officer to at-

tain the rank of an Air Chief
Marshall.
From the North, beside
Gen. Gusau, other prominent retired officers being
considered for the top security assignment are Col.
Abubarkar Umar; a former
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Abdurrahman Dambazau (rtd); Gen. Bitrus Boka
Ushe (rtd) from Kebbi State
and a former Director of
Military Intelligence, Col.
Halilu Akilu.
Though highly favoured,
however, Gen. Gusau is said
to have given three conditions for accepting the offer
which include being given
free hand to operate; a waiver to do whatever he can to
salvage the security challenges facing the nation; and
opportunity to resign anytime, if he is displeased with
the situation or if he feels
that he has fulfilled his mission in the Federal Executive
Council (FEC).
The conditions, it was
gathered, is not likely to be
granted by the president.

L
L-R: Representative of Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Alhaji Alhassan Magaji; Director of Logistics, Armed Forces
Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Commodore Olutayo Adetomiwa, and representative, Ministry of Defence, Procurement
Department, Echowo Peter, at the open public bidding for college library project at the AFCSC in Jaji, Kaduna State, yesterday.

JTF arrests terrorists, recovers arms in Maiduguri

• Gunmen kill banker
INUSA NDAHI
MAIDUGURI

T

he Joint Task Force
in Maiduguri, the
Borno State capital,
has arrested some suspected
members of the terrorists
group, Boko Haram, and
recovered a large amount
of arms and ammunitions
from their hideout.
The arrest and recovery
yesterday followed the adoption of a new tactics which is
tagged “Humanitarian Line
of Operation.”

With the tactics, raids are
carried out within the metropolis.
Briefing newsmen at the
JTF headquarters along
Pompomari by- pass in Maiduguri, the Field Operations
Commander, Colonel Victor
Ebheleme, commended the
efforts of residents who are
now cooperating with the security agencies in providing
information on the hideouts
of members of the sect.
According to him, the assistance of the members of
the public led to the recovery

of the arms and ammunitions from one house in Maiduguri metropolis.
Ebheleme said some good
Samaritans provided information on the hideouts of
some suspected members of
the sect, in which the JTF
swung into action and arrested them at their hideouts.
He said after interrogation, the suspects revealed
the house of someone where
the four AK47 rifles; one set
of GpMG; 9 RPG bombs and
11 chargers were recovered.
He added that other
weapons of mass destruction recovered from the

house include 1,032 rounds
of ammunition, three AK47
magazines and three wooden
butts.
In another development,
some gunmen laid ambush
in Gwange Ward of Maiduguri metropolis and shot
dead a banker, injuring one
of his friends.
The third person in the
company of the other two escaped unhurt.
The incident, it was gathered, took place at about
6:45pm when the deceased
along side his two friends
were breaking their fast in
front of his house.

agos State governor, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola, yesterday
raised alarm that his phone
number has been hacked by
some fraudsters to extort
money from members of
the state cabinet and permanent secretary.
He said the fraudsters
had opened an account in
Skye Bank and used his
phone number to send text
messages to members of his
cabinet to pay some specified
amount of money into it.
“I must use this opportunity to appeal to all citizens and all of those who
have received text messages
purportedly being sent in
my name. Apparently my
phone has been cloned by
some internet fraudsters,
they sent messages round
to my commissioners and
permanent secretaries asking them to come and pay
money into one Skye Bank
account.
“Please ignore those
messages, they are not from
us. It apparently shows the

desperation to make money
by all means. These are the
small crimes, those are the
corrupt tendencies that we
must all as a nation put to
bed. They are the ones that
lead to the bigger crimes. If
we focus our attention on
the bigger crimes, we will
lose the larger picture. All
of these speak to the need
for increasing compliance
with law and order in every
state, every local government, every ward, every
home. All of us must rise
up and reclaim our country
back from this lawlessness.”
Fashola bemoaned the
development, adding that
making money through
cheap means could halt the
nation’s value system .
Meanwhile, the governor
has ordered a full –scale investigation into the circumstances that led to the battering of a photojournalist
of Leadership newspaper,
Benedict Uwalaka , by mortuary attendants at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) on
the allegation that he had
photographs of one of the
corpses of Dana plane crash.

8

National News

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

WAEC: 38.81% pass May/June exam
• Withholds 112,000 results

TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE

A

total of 649,156
candidates representing 38.81 per
cent of 1, 695878 who wrote
this year’s May/June Senior Secondary School
Examination (SSSE) conducted by the West African Examination Council
(WAEC) obtained credits
in five subjects and above

including English and
Mathematics.
Another total of 112,
000 candidates representing 6.70 per cent have
their results withheld over
various alleged examination malpractice while 46
schools have their results
pending for failure of
their schools to have submitted their candidates’
assessment scores which
form 30 per cent of the to-

tal score for the results to
the council.
The Head of National
Office in Nigeria, Dr. Iyi
Uwadiae, disclosed this
yesterday in Lagos while
announcing the results
barely three months after
the exam was conducted.
Giving the statistics,
Uwadiae said out of the total candidates, minus 16, 654,
who registered but did not
sit the exam, 1, 545,004 can-

didates representing 91.10
per cent, had their results
fully released, while 150,
874 candidates representing
8.90 per cent had a few other
results still being processed
due to some errors mainly
traceable to them.
The WAEC boss further
gave the breakdown of
the results saying: 771, 731
candidates, representing
46. 14 per cent, obtained
six credits and above and

952, 156 candidates, representing 56. 93 per cent,
obtained five credits and
above.
He also disclosed that
114 blind candidates registered for the exam out
of which 95 sat the exam
and 21 representing 22.11
per cent obtained credits
in five subjects including
English Language.
He noted that blind candidates did not take Mathematics and Science practical in WASSCE diets.
On the general performance, Uwadie said there
was significant improvement
in this year’s results over the
past two years in both council’s May/June and November/December exams.
He said it was 23. 71 per
cent and 25.16 per cent of
candidates in 2010 May/

June and November/December exams that passed
in five subjects including
English and Mathematics
at credit level and above,
while it was 30.91 per cent
and 36.07 per cent last year.
He noted that while the
council would have preferred better performance,
Uwadiae said the council
also recognised the significant
interventions
of various state governments in their education
sector which had led to the
improvement in students’
performance in exams
and the results.
He, however, said the
candidates who sat the
exam would be able to
check details of their performance on the council’s
website within 48 hours
after the announcement.

Bring attackers of photojournalist to book –IPC
TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

L-R: Ambassador of South Korea to Nigeria, Mr. Choi Jong Hyun; Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem
Duke, and Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, during the signing of agreement on cultural and educational co-operation
between Nigeria and the Republic of South Korea, in Abuja, recently.
PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

ollowing the intense
cold weather in some
states of the country,
there has been an increase
in the number of patients,
particularly those suffering
from asthma and sickle cell.
Dr. Abimbola Abiodun a
physician with the General Hospital, Agege, Lagos
disclosed this in an interview with Saturday Mirror yesterday.
“The number of patients
attended to has increased
while most of the ailments, I
believe are as a result of the
weather condition” she stated.
Although she couldn’t
give statistics of the number of such patients, she
emphatically told our correspondent that there had
been an increase in the
number of patients.
“ I cannot really tell you
the exact figures of cold-related ailments we have had

to treat here but I can say
that there’s been an alarming increase which should
call for attention,” she said.
According to her, there
have been an upshoot of
cases of feverish conditions
which were triggered by severe cold.
“There have equally been
unusual number of people
coming in with prolonged
cough, catarrh, fevers”.
She however disclosed
that “the elderly are not having the best of times because
they are not only battling
with the cold but the fact that
it is affecting their bones.
On what could be done to
manage the prevailing situation, she stated that “I’m
afraid that there isn’t much
we can do to stop the prevailing weather condition,
but like I’ve been telling
patients, we can control the
extent we expose ourselves
to the weather by doing the
needful such as digging into
our closets for warm cloth-

ing instead of trendy ones.
“This is no season for
us to try being fashionable
because we must think less
of fashion and more of our
health thus we must wear
clothes that cover our bodies in totality.
“I believe we can still
look good even while fighting off the cold. It is worthy
to also state that people living with asthma, other respiratory conditions such
as bronchitis and even
sickle cell patients must be
extra careful this season.
They must guard their bodies jealously with very thick
clothes from head to toe.
They must befriend warm
water this season both in
drinking and bathing and
should expose themselves
less to the weather and stay
away from air conditioners
and even fans at night”.
Like Lagos, other Southern states of the country
are having their share of the
weather, as well as large turn

outs of patients in hospitals.
According to a senior
nurse in the clinic of the
University of Ibadan which
is popularly known as
“Jaji”, there have been more
incidences of asthmatic students being rushed to the
health institution.
The nurse who pleaded
anonymity on the grounds
that she is a civil servant
told Saturday Mirror that
“I believe you can hear
someone coughing uncontrolled at the background;
that is another student
who is asthmatic that has
been rushed here. Until
this sudden change in our
weather, I never knew we
had so many students who
are either asthmatic or living with sickle cell. Since
the cold weather, they are
either rushed in at any time
of the day, particularly at
night when the weather
goes too cold or they voluntarily walk in for medical
consultations.

T

he
International
Press Centre (IPC)
yesterday called on
the Lagos State Government
to ensure a thorough investigation into the vicious
attack on the Leadership
newspaper photojournalist,
Mr. Benedict Uwalaka, on
Thursday at the Lagos State
University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
In a statement made
available to Saturday Mirror yesterday, the Director of
IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade,
said the perpetrators should
be made to face justice as the

use of brute force on a journalist while on legitimate
duty cannot be justified under any circumstances.
“The media has suffered
a lot in recent times through
bombings and kidnapping. We want an immediate probe into this matter
and the culprits brought to
book,” Arogundade said.
IPC said the assault was
condemnable and called
for the re-orientation and
education of government
agencies and personnel on
how to relate with journalists, who apparently, some
of them see as ‘enemies’ as
was the situation during
military rule.

Islam is against killings –Don

A

renowned Professor
of Islamic and Arabic Studies, Prof. Alani Seriki, has stressed that
Islam is a religion of peace
that does not allow incessant
killings of innocent people.
Seriki who is the Dean,
College of Humanities, Tai
Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State,
made this assertion at the
2012 Ramadan lecture organised by Ijebu-Ode Club
held recently at the club’s
premises.
He noted that the Boko
Haram sect did not follow
the doctrine of Allah.
According to him, Islam
is a religion of peace, knowl-

edge, tolerance and peaceful
co-existence.
Prophet
Mohammed
(SAW), he said, is a man of
peace and so are his followers.
The university don urged
Muslims to use the Ramadan period to pray extensively for peace in Nigeria.
He said it was unfortunate that Nigeria is now
rated as one of the terrorists
nations of the world.
He urged the federal government to be more security
conscious and find a lasting solution to the menace
which had claimed the lives
of thousands of innocent
Nigerians.

Politics

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

2015: Strategising
ahead of battle

Bisi Akande, ACN
chairman

Tony Momoh, CPC
chairman

Bamanga Tukur, PDP
chairman

TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

F

rom the look of things, the political battle in 2015 promises to be
tough. The major opposition parties, particularly, the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), seem not to
be leaving anything to chance. They are
already working underground on how
best to wrest power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) come 2015.
They seem to be a little more determined
this time around than their last effort.
The ruling party, PDP, is apparently
conscious of the danger of pretending
that it would be business as usual in
2015, and it is not taking the threat by
the opposition parties with levity. At

least, going by its reaction recently, it
would counter any move by the opposition parties and remain in power in 2015
and beyond. But how possible is it for the
PDP to successfully counter the proposed
onslaught by the opposition? That is the
question that begs for answer.
It would be recalled that in the last few
months there have been several moves by
the opposition parties to form a formidable platform to seize power from the PDP.
To that effect, merger talks have been
going on between the ACN and the CPC.
To many people, with a new and strong
platform as being planned by the opposition, the PDP may be in for a tough time
during the next general elections.
PDP has, since May 29, 1999, dominated the political scene, especially at
the federal level. The opposition parties

have, in the last three general elections,
found it difficult to change the tide despite their threat to do that. The farthest
they have gone, has been to retain just a
part of the state where they have their
base.
For example, ACN has become the ruling party in the South-West, while All
Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) is
regarded as a strong party in the SouthEast. CPC is also believed to be gaining
popularity in the North.
It is with the success recorded by some
of the parties in the different parts of
the country that many are today becoming optimistic that PDP may be in for a
big trouble come 2015. But PDP is seeing
the issue differently. As far as the party
is concerned, nothing would stop it from
enjoying its position as the leading party.

August 11, 2012

9

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, on
Sunday, the party declared that no alliance against PDP would survive. He said
PDP is not threatened by the proposed
alliance between some major opposition
parties, since it (PDP) remained the only
national political party that was committed to the continued existence of Nigeria and its transformation.
His words: “We hear of alliance and
mergers every day. That is not new. Let
us wait for 2015. Do you think Nigerians
are fools? Do you think that Nigerians
do not take notice of the character and
tendency of individuals and political
parties? The PDP is the only party that
is committed to the continued existence
of Nigeria and the welfare of its people.
At the appropriate time, they will decide
whether to entrust their great nation
to the hands of regionalists, doomsday
prophets and pro-anarchists or to the
safe hands of the PDP….
“Our party has shown enormous
capacity and has achieved significant
manifest benefits in national growth
drivers as in freedom, which is at the
heart of civilisation, in terms of free
and fair elections, which is the livewire
of democracy and in real infrastructural growth at the federal and in the states
under our control. We can only continue
to improve.”
However, PDP may have prided itself
as the ruling party and vowed to remain
so, some political analysts would still
believe that all would not likely be well
with the party in the next general elections.
The reasons for their position are obvious. They believe that at present, PDP
is currently having crises in virtually
all its state chapters following its inability to manage some of its internal problems. The problems emanated from the
last congresses and national convention.
It is also believed that the call for
change in government by many Nigerians, considering the security challenges
in the country, high rate of corruption
and some of the perceived anti-peoples’
policies of the present administration
may affect the popularity of the ruling
party.
On the other hand, it is not as though
the opposition would find it easy to unseat the PDP as the major party. Many
are of the belief that the coming together of the opposition parties may not be
easy at all.
Although the proposed ACN-CPC
merger talks are in top gear many feel
strongly that the merger may not see the
light of the day considering similar efforts in that respect in the past.
During the April 1999 general election, for example, the then All Peoples
Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) formed an alliance to compete against the PDP. The two parties
presented a common candidate in the
person of former Minister of Finance,
Chief Olu Falae, to contest against PDP’s
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. At the end of
the election Obasanjo became president.
In 2007, several efforts by the opposition parties to unite failed. Even the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

10

POLITICS

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Corrupt officials must be

F

ormer presidents, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General
Ibrahim Babangida, recently
reviewed the security situation in
the country and called for a dialogue
with Boko Haram. Do you support
this idea as a way out of the state of
insecurity?
We need to dialogue and there is no
doubt about that. In fact we need a constitutional conference; Nigerians need
to sit down and plan the way forward
for Nigeria. We need to find answers to
some basic questions. Are we satisfied
with the present state of the economy
of the country? Do we want to continue with a central government or do we
want a parliamentary system? There
are so many things to discuss. The constitution needs some amendments if
we are to continue in this country. So, I
think they are right that there must be
dialogue.
What is your view about the move
by the House of Representatives to
kick-start an impeachment process
against President Goodluck Jonathan over poor implementation of
the budget?
Impeachment is not a new thing. If
the president is not performing his duty,
the National Assembly has the right to
caution him. If he refuses to get cautioned then there would be an impeachment. It is a normal democratic system.
There is nothing extra ordinary in impeachment provided it is done properly
and not for any trivial reason. For impeachment to occur, the reason must be
genuine and it must be in the interest
of the people. If you make a budget, you
must execute it. There is no need deceiving the people presenting a budget and
then not backing it up with money. The
budget must be executed because the
lives of the people depend on it.
In the last few weeks, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission
(EFCC) has been arraigning many
oil cartels due to the outcome of the
report of the Hon. Farouk Lawanled House of Representatives’ ad-hoc
committee on management of fuel
subsidy. Do you see the cabal being
brought to book considering how
many high profile corruption cases
have been swept under the carpet?
It is always very difficult to fight a cabal but the justice system will catch up
with them sooner or later. If they have
stolen people’s money and the court is
there then justice will prevail. We only
hope that the court this time would be
ready to give justice. Honestly, the situation of the country is very bad. Everywhere is corrupt and you don’t even
know where to go. The whole system is
very corrupt and that is the problem we
have. Many people have even stolen pension funds. That is one of the corrupt
cases that have been discovered. Who
knows other things that have been stolen? Pension fund is the last thing that
is expected of anybody to steal. It is the
money of the aged and they still steal
them. Who knows many other things
that have been stolen but have not been

Senator Anthony Adefuye was a member of the Senate in the Third Republic in the
country. He is today the national secretary of the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF) and a
chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview with TEMITOPE
OGUNBANKE, he speaks on the effect of corruption on the nation’s system. He also
speaks on the threat by the House of Representatives to impeach President Goodluck
Jonathan on issues bordering on the implementation of the 2012 budget. Excerpts:

Adefuye

discovered? Many funds have been stolen; petroleum fund, pension fund, police funds and many other funds have
been stolen and grabbed by some cabals.
So, we must look at all those funds; there
must be security for them so that people
don’t just take them as easy money that
can easily be stolen.
Again, when you put people who are
not qualified in charge of certain things,
you will find out at the end of the day
that you have introduced virus into the
system. Those people would only bring
about corruption galore. We must therefore start sanitising the system by putting round a peg in a round hole. Once
we can do that from the beginning, we
can save ourselves. When you begin to
put corrupt people into places that must
not be corrupted there is going to be problem. When you begin to swear in people
who should not be judges, then you have
corrupted the place and you cannot get
justice through the judicial system.
When you begin to make nurses, doctors,
then you have corrupted the place and
you cannot get a good healing from such

an arrangement. That is the kind of situation we have now. Quite a lot of wrong
people have been put into the system and
they must all be flushed out.
Is there a possibility that they
would be flushed out, considering the
Nigerian system?
We must be determined to do so. Nobody has made any attempt to do so. If
you look at the local government for instance, you will find out that the council
officials are all corrupt from the top to
the bottom. Even if you are appointed
as a saint as council chairman today
before the next day they would have corrupted you. So, we must find a way to ensure that we put good people in the right
places.
But many Nigerians don’t care
about who governs them, but what
they can benefit from him as individuals.
Before, the belief was: What can I get?
But now, people know that once they put
wrong people in government they suffer.
So, people must now be determined to ensure that they only vote the right people

into the government. If people are forced
on them they must reject them; they
must freely choose those they consider
to be good and credible as their leaders.
Once we start that, then the problem is
over.
Many Nigerians seem to be losing
interest in some politicians considered to be credible in view of the alleged involvement of Hon. Farouk
Lawan in a bribery scandal with
Femi Otedola. Are you not worried?
The whole system is corrupt. I was
shocked by the Farouk Lawan’s action
because I thought we had begun to make
a headway in the fight against corruption. I did not know that it was corruption fighting corruption. That is where
the problem is. When corruption fights
corruption what you will get at the end
of the day is corruption. We must do
something quickly if Nigeria is to stand.
The greatest enemy we have now is corruption; even when you put your money
in the bank, it is not safe.
Why did you think so?
Because of corruption. In Europe,

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

POLITICS

August 11, 2012

11

flushed out –Senator Adefuye
you can put your money in a bank and
go to sleep but in Nigeria we are not yet
there. Central Bank of Nigeria still has
to do a lot of things to ensure that our
money is safe and money is made available to the people. If you don’t make the
money available to the people, then it is a
waste of time putting our money in the
bank. It is unfair to put your money in
a bank where the banker starts trading
with your money. It is no more banking
and that is why so many banks collapsed
in Nigeria. We need to put our system
in order. Up till now we are being told
that some people still deep their hands
into the purse of the Central Bank and
spend the money anyhow. We cannot run
a country like this. The country must be
put in a proper order and the only way we
can start that is by ensuring that we vote
for good people. And when we have made

mistakes by voting wrong people into offices, we must not be shy to remove them.
Do you think that one is possible in
Nigeria?
Yes, it is very possible. Anywhere in
the world when the damage is being done
they want change and they would revolt.
What’s your view about the plan to
oust PDP from the centre come 2015?
One of the beauties of democracy is
that every four years, you have opportunity to change every government. But
the fact is that things don’t even depend
on peoples’ votes any more. There is
what we call rigging. The whole system
is corrupt and many people are rigged
into office. So, we must ensure that our
future elections are credible, free and
fair. If we have elections where there is
no rigging then that would be the first
step toward cleansing Nigeria. We can-

not be sure now that if we hold election
that it would not be rigged because all
the returning officers are from the ruling party. Even in the local government
elections, all the returning officers are
members of the ruling party in that
state too. So, this is where our problem
is and it is only God who can save us. We
too can save ourselves by doing the right
thing.
What is your view about the ongoing merger talk between the ACN
and the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC)?
It is a good move if it would work.
More parties must come together if they
are to be relevant. I believe that the coalition of the CPC and ACN is a good
move. But honestly speaking, just like
ACN cleared the South-West, so also the
CPC cleared the North. But of course,

some of them were rigged out during
last election. If they are together this
time, they would be strong enough to defend and protect their votes.
The agitation for the establishment of state police is on. Are you in
support of this?
The whole thing is still about corruption. Whether state or federal police; police is police. The advantage of state police is that the state is able to manage its
own security, whichever way it wanted.
And the people who are managing the security are from that state. So, they know
one another and therefore it is very easy
to secure the state. That is why people
are calling for state police. But the fact is
that the people themselves must not be
corrupt and the police must not be corrupt. Whether state or national police, if
they are corrupt, it is not good.

2015: Strategising ahead of battle
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
coming together of some AD chieftains
and disgruntled members of the PDP led
by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to send PDP out of government also
failed as PDP’s candidate, Alhaji Umar
Yar’Adua became victorious in the presidential election of that year.
Again, prior to the 2011 general elections, many people looked forward to a
possible merger between CPC and ACN
considering their popularity in the
North and South-West respectively, but
the efforts did not yield any fruit. The
talks collapsed owing to irreconcilable
differences among the party leaders.
The two political parties presented
different candidates at the election and
came second and third respectively. The
inability of the two parties to work together gave President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP a smooth ride to Aso
Rock Villa at the end of the election.
It is against the backdrop of the futility of the efforts then that made many to
give up hope on the renewed merger talk.
As far as many people are concerned,
the personal ambition of the respective leaders would, as in the past, work
against the overall ambition to sack the
PDP from dominating the political atmosphere.
Some analysts are of the view that the
refusal of some of the opposition parties
to join the CPC and ACN in the merger
talks may affect the success of efforts.
Speaking to Saturday Mirror, ACN
chieftain, Senator Anthony Adefuye,
said that the coming together of the opposition parties would give them the
opportunity to defend and protect their
votes in their quest to sent PDP packing
from the Aso Rock come 2015.
His words: “The merger talks between
CPC and ACN is a good move if it would
work. More parties must come together
if they are to be relevant. I believe that
the coalition of the CPC and ACN is a
good move. But honestly speaking, just
like ACN cleared the South-West, so also
CPC cleared the North. But of course,

some of them were rigged out during
last election. So, if they are together this
time, they would be strong enough to defend and protect their votes.”
The spokesman of the Conference of
Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) and
CPC chieftain, Mr. Osita Okechukwu,
said the opposition, having learnt their
lessons in the past would do everything
possible to ensure that the merger talks
work this time around.
“We have learnt a lot of lessons from
our failure to consummate the merger
before the 2011 elections. We are doing
all we can to make sure that there is no
miscarriage any more. One can safely
say that we cannot repeat the mistake we
made before. As luck will have it, we have
time on our side unlike in 2011.
“We also know that Nigerians are
tired of the vice-like grip of the PDP; so
we can’t afford to fail to unite all the progressive forces. Barring any unintended
obstacle, the merger will be concluded
before March 2013, which provides us
time to market the name and the manifesto of the new baby,” he said.
While many see the alliance talks
bringing about a major force, former
Zamfara State governor, who is currently the Senate Deputy Minority Whip,
Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, said the
proposed merger of ACN and CPC ahead
of the 2015 presidential election may not
produce a fruitful result.
He said the personal interests of
personalities involved in the proposed
merger overrides national interest. He
stressed that unless politicians can take
national interest to be above their personal interests, it would be difficult to
have a successful merger of the two political parties.
“The recent crises in the CPC that led
to its factionalisation are the beginning
of the merger’s obstacles and this may
not allow that merger to become reality,”
he added.
ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, believes that the
merger of political parties is the only

weapon that the opposition can use to
rescue the country from the grip of the
PDP.
“The merger of our party, ACN, with
the CPC, the All Nigeria Peoples Party
(ANPP) and a splinter group of disenchanted members of the PDP will come
into being very soon. I can assure you,
the leaders of the parties have been

meeting to consider the proposal, as the
only way through which we can rescue
this country from the PDP,” he said.
With the possibility of attacks against
the PDP by the opposition parties, and
the likelihood of a strong defence by the
former, it would be appropriate to wait
till 2015 when the battle would have been
declared open.

In your refreshingly different
Ex-governors: Prosecution in limbo?

It was Ijaw leader and former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, that
stirred a hornet’s nest last week. It was at a lecture of the Nigerian Institute
of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) when he took on the anti-corruption
agencies and the Federal Government on the fight against corruption. He
wondered why there had not been any conclusion on the prosecution of exgovernors accused of misappropriating their people’s wealth.
In this week’s report, we take a look at the issue; the accusations and why it
has been difficult to prosecute these former governors.

2015: Again, the Igbo presidency debate

The 2015 general election is still about three years away, but political permutation, especially in the South East geo-political zone, has started. The Igbo have
begun moves to actualise their plans for a President of Igbo extraction. Will
they succeed? Will they achieve their aim in view of rumbles from the North
for the same office? Though President Goodluck Jonathan has not signified his
intention to contest for a second term, his body language indicates this to be a
possibility. So, can the Igbo achieve their aim? What is their strategy? We serve
you this tomorrow.

Kogi’s tales of deaths

Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, had a bitter pill of insurgents’ attacks during
the week. While gunmen invaded the camp of Deeper Christian Life Bible
Church members on a retreat, killing no fewer than 20 worshippers in one fell
swoop, another set of insurgents invaded a local mosque where it detonated
explosives. There, two soldiers lay dead while many worshippers were fatally
wounded. We reached out to survivors of the attacks, among them, the
injured. It is a gripping episode that you cannot but read.

Ify’s
If
’ passion
i

Ifeoma Okeke, a Nollywood act, is a graduate of Business Administration
of the Lagos State University (LASU). Ify, as she is fondly called by her
friends, also studied Nursing. But she neither took a career in her course
of study nor practised the Nursing profession. Her reason? “I don’t want
to be caged”. Ify tells of her passion, her fashion preference and the challenges in Nollywood, among others. Meet her tomorrow.
These and many more available tomorrow in your

12

National News

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

ANPP may disappear before 2015 –Tofa
AUGUSTINE MADU
WEST
KANO

F

ormer
chairman
of the elders committee of the All
Nigerian People’s Party
( ANPP), Alhaji Bashir
Tofa has expressed doubt
over the possible survival
of his party beyond 2015,
citing exodus of key members and factional crisis

rocking the opposition
party as reasons.
He told Saturday Mirror
in an interview that the once
leading opposition party in
the country is now in a serious problem with leadership
crisis tearing it apart.
“As it is now, ANPP is in a
serious problem; that is just
my opinion. The party is not
in some states, especially in
the South East; it is not even
in the North; key party mem-

bers are leaving for other
parties,” he said.
The party’s former Contact and Alliance Committee chairman also recalled
that “in recent months we
have lost many leaders in the
North and also in the South.
These are leaders who are
strategic to the survival of
the party and this is a serious problem for the party”.
According to him, another major factor militating

against the party’s growth
is the attitude of most of its
elected officials such as National Assembly members
and governors.
“Our governors and senators are not always forthcoming to assist the party and
they are not even serious
with the party’s activities.
“Recently a meeting was
held in Abuja, it was a caucus meeting, I think only one
governor out of the three

attended that meeting with
just a few senators. So, this
kind of disenchantment
with the party is a very serious development and set
back to the party”.
The former presidential
candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the aborted
Third Republic said the most
disturbing scenario in all
these is the party’s appalling
status in Kano State where

it hitherto enjoyed tremendous patronage.
“The party’s situation in
Kano is disturbing with the
emergence of no fewer than
six factions, each angling for
power, fighting one another
with unity eluding the party. So, the party is virtually
crippled in Kano because
the leadership is lacking and
I think if we are not careful
we may disappear before
2015.”

T
L-R: Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, congratulating the Group Managing Director of Nest Oil Plc., Dr. Ernest Azudialu, after being conferred with the West Africa Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Lagos, while the Managing Director, ABN Group,
Roberta Nadoo watches, recently.

700 Nigerian troops deployed in Liberia
A ZA MSUE
KADUNA

A

bout 700 officers
and men of 195 Battalion,
Nigerian
Army, have been deployed
in Liberia on peace keeping
mission just as authorities
warned against sexual misconduct.
The army troops were
also warned against being
disarmed by criminal in the
unpredictable mission area.
General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Division,
Nigerian Army, Ibadan,
Major General Mohammed D. Abubakar, gave the

warning yesterday at the
graduation ceremony of
the troops after a four-week
pre-deployment training at
the Nigerian Army Peace
Keeping Centre, Jaji, Kaduna State.
Represented by the Commander, 22 Armoured Brigade, Ilorin, Brigadier General Saidu Bello, the GOC
told the troop to be resolute
in dealing with operational
matters in line with the
United Nations Mission in
Liberia (UNAMIL)’s rule of
engagement and force protection measures.
Said he: “It is important
to bring to your attention,

the unpredicted brewing
violent situation in Liberia which is the fallout of
the just concluded general
election. You must exercise
utmost care, considering
the nature and lifestyle of
Liberian women.”
“I will equally highlight
the cultural sensitivity related to the Liberia environment, which requires
caution and respect from
deployed peacekeepers. In
this regard, I urge you to
abide by the mission’s dos
and don’ts.”
In his address, the Commandant of the Nigerian
Army Peacekeeping Centre

(NAPKC), Major General
John Samuel Zaruwa, said
the troop had adequate level of training to ensure effective performance in any
peace-keeping
operation
theatre.
General Zaruwa who
spoke through his deputy,
Brigadier General Abubakar A. Tarfa, said the specialised training was in
tandem with Army headquarters’ desire to ensure
that troops receive the
much needed robust and
theatre-specific peace support operation training prior to induction into peacekeeping missions.

Projects in aviation to be contractor-financed –Minister
OLUSEGUN KOIKI

T

he Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella
Oduah, has said that
all projects in the country’s
sector will henceforth be under contractor-financed business model.
The minister stated this
yesterday in China during
her business meeting with

the Chinese business community.
Oduah is currently on
tour of China, United States
and Canada to woo foreign
investors to the country’s
aviation industry.
According to Oduah, every project contained in the
investment baskets currently being marketed through
the Investors’ Road show
would not be through con-

cessioning or Public Private
Partnership (PPP) business
model as was the case in the
past.
Speaking through her
Special Assistant, Media, Mr.
Joe Obi, the minister emphasised that the ministry was
looking for investors who
were interested in investing
in the Nigeria Aerotropolis
Cities and the aviation sector
in general, to partner with

Nigerian indigenous investors in growing the aviation
industry in the country.
“What the government
is actually looking for is
contractor-financed investors who can finance the
projects while the government provides the enabling
environment; we are looking
for investors that can have
joint ventures with our local,
indigenous companies.

he Chief Medical
Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital
(LASUTH), Prof. David
Wale Oke, has explained
that the delay in the collection of the bodies of
Dana plane crash victims
is partly because some of
their next-of-kin are outside the country.
Oke also officially appologised on behalf of the
hospital for the beating
of a photojournalist, Mr.
Benedict Uwalaka at LASUTH mortuary on Thursday.
He disclosed that the
hospital had received calls
from next-of-kins in United States , United Kingdom
, China , Lebanon and other parts of the world and
even within the country,
requesting that the bodies
of their loved ones be preserved for them pending
their arrival.
“Some said they will
be available in two weeks
time, others pleaded for
more time; but one thing
is sure, we are not going to
charge a dime for any extra time the corpses spend
in the mortuary.
“If we have kept the
corpses at no expense for
the relatives since June
that the plane crash occurred, why should we
charge money for just a
few days.
“Lagos State government has spent so much
money on this matter, and
doing it free for the victims’ families,” he said.
“Another reason, it was

gathered, why families are
not in a hurry to pick their
corpses is because the
Lekan Ogunsola Memorial Mortuary, LASUTH,
reputedly has one of the
modern, state-of-the- art
facilities for corpse preservation in the country.
“Therefore some victims’ relatives have decided to leave their corpse
there till they are ready to
collect them”.
A victim’s relative who
spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity explained that even though it
was their utmost desire to
claim their bodies for burial, how to further preserve
the bodies till the time for
burial was a major force
militating against the process as most of them were
not ready for burial.
He questioned the logic
behind further exposing
the corpses of which most
are devoid of one part of
the body or another.
According to him, some
mortuary attendants confided in them that the
chemical used in preserving the corpses were likely to expire within 24/48
hours after being taken
away from LASUTH mortuary which would make
the corpse to further decay just as he expressed
fear over the availability
of the chemical in other
morgues.
For these reasons, he
stressed, relatives who
would have to convey their
corpses to other parts of
the country for burial have
decided to wait for about
one or two days to the set
dates for burial before they
come for their corpses.

s Nigeria’s U-20 national team,
known as the Flying Eagles, take
on their Tanzanian counterparts in tomorrow’s second leg of their
African Youth Championship qualifier
at the Ilorin Township Stadium, coach
of the team, John Obuh, says his team
is battle ready and will fight to get the
three maximum points.
The Flying Eagles defeated the
Ngorongoro Heroes 2-1 during the first
leg at the National Stadium in Dar-esSalam, Tanzania, a fortnight ago and
stands a better chance of booking the
final ticket with at least a draw.
Enugu Rangers forward, Alhaji Gero,
was Nigeria’s hero as he got a brace
scoring in the 5th and 46th minutes to

bring
coach
Obuh-led
b i
h Ob
h l d tteam closer
l
tto
qualifying for the tournament, while
Tanzania only managed to pull one back
in the second half.
Also, despite the Flying Eagles, failure
to impress at the Cape Town International
Challenge earlier in May and their woeful
performance in a friendly match against
Rwanda prior to the first leg, the team
has churned out good results in friendly
matches ahead of tomorrow’s encounter.
The Flying Eagles who are the defending champions of the AYC, defeated Nigeria Premier League (NPL) side, Kwara
United, 2-1 on Sunday and hit Federation Cup semi finalists, Prime FC, 3-0
on Tuesday in the matches played at the
Ilorin Township Stadium, venue of Sunday’s showdown.
According to Obuh, who was obviously
excited over his side’s change of fortune,

NSC needs
complete
overhauling
–Eseka P. 16

the tteam h
has llearntt greatt lessons
from
th
l
f
those defeats, adding that the players are
in to shape going into Sunday’s clash.
“We had some disappointments earlier on, which cast doubts on our ability
to qualify, but those poor results made us
stronger and you will surely see a muchimproved team against the Tanzanians
come Sunday.
“It is not always easy putting a team
together especially when you have a pool
to draw from, but we have had a couple
of weeks to train and that has helped the
players understand themselves, and our
style of play has improved the team in so
many ways.
“Nigerians expect positive results
from us anytime we play and as the defending champions, the players have all
promised to raise their game in order to
get the desired result,” Obuh who also

We never
planned to win
Olympic medals
–Popoola P. 42

doubles
Sharks
Portt H
Harcourtt hand
bl as Sh
k off P
dler, stated confidently.
The winner of the Nigeria/Tanzania
tie will play the winner of the Congo/
South Africa fixture, for a place at the
8-Nation tournament, and Obuh believes
a positive result over the visitors will increase his side’s chances of qualifying
for the 18th African Youth Championship
scheduled to hold in Algeria next year.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of
African Football (CAF) has named Liberian referees for the match between
Nigeria and Tanzania. Jerry Yekeh will
be the Centre Referee, with compatriots
Anthony Dopoh, Elisha Johnson and
Emmanuel Neewon as 1st Assistant, 2nd
Assistant and Reserve Referees, respectively while Moucharaf Anjorin from
Benin Republic will be the Match Commissioner.

I don’t
respect
Carl Lewis
– Bolt P. 43

14

SPORT

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Embracing NSSF’s sports development programme
F
HARD TACKLE
ollowing the dismal performance of Team Nigeria at the ongoing London
2012 Olympics, it is imperative
at this time of our country’s
sports development to take a retrospective view on how best we
can churn out athletes that can
challenge the best in the world
and win laurels. It is because
of this fact that we need to embrace school sports to salvage
our sports development, which
is on a free fall.
As kicker, it is shameful that a
nation of more than 150 million
inhabitants cannot muster the
will to discover her best potentials in various sports from the
grassroots, talk less of training
and nurturing them to stardom.
Therefore, it is important we begin to plan early on how best we
can get it right before the 2016
Olympics in Brazil.
In our recent interview with
the President of the Nigeria
School Sports Federation (NSSF),
Mallam Ibrahim Muhammad, he
threw light on the need for our
sports administrators to go back
to the basics, in order to rediscover our laudable prowess in sports
development.
According to records, NSSF
was founded in 1976, and since
then, the sporting body has been
actively involved in the organisation of National School Sports
Festival, All Nigeria Secondary
School Football Championship
(NNPC/Shell Cup) and Nestle

with

Andrew
Ekejiuba
anelsports@yahoo.com
Milo National Secondary Schools
Basketball Championship to
mention but a few. Yet, NSSF
does not receive any subvention
from government or anywhere
to compliment their efforts even
many decades after.
Thus, it is the opinion of HT
that all the sporting bodies (National Sports Commission and
the Nigeria Football Federation
inclusive), alongside members
of Corporate Nigeria should as
a matter of urgency compliment
NSSF’s effort to help the country
discover more budding athletes (at
their right ages) and nurture them
to stardom as they did in the past.
Using a fire-brigade approach
in preparing our athletes for major competitions like the Olympics is never the best and quoting
the NSSF President’s reaction in
this regard, “it is not the right
thing to do, but situation forces
our sports administrators to do
so. For example, if money meant
for the development of sports or

08034343377

for the prosecution of a major
competition is not released on
time from the budget, what do
you expect the sports administrator, to do? Take a look at what
happened prior to the Olympics
in London where at the last minute, the entire funds meant for
the prosecution of the competition where not fully released.
So, government’s bureaucracy
is a major problem militating
against sports development in
our country.”
From the foregoing, one can
see that there is a fundamental
problem from government who
has remained the sole financier
of sports development in the
country. Our sports administrators have an arduous task of
working ahead in seeing that
athletes discovered from schools
are nurtured to stardom, rather
than allowing them to rot away
with their enormous God-given
talents.
School sports competitions

are the best place to catch a possible future Olympic gold medallist and that is why attention
is always given to students who
are inclined to sports in most of
the developed sporting nations
across the globe.
In the National School Sports
Festival being organised by
NSSF annually, more than 22
events are featured and since the
commencement of the festival
in 2008, 17 out of the 22 sporting
events are medal scoring, while 5
are non-scoring. This figure goes
to show the importance, which
NSSF attaches to the development of other sports aside from
football.
Today, we are glad to celebrate
the prowess of the captain of
D’Tigers, Olumide Oyedeji, who
led the national basketball team
for the first time to the London
Olympics and was a product
of the Nestle Milo Secondary
Schools Basketball Championship, also organised by the NSSF.
To say the least, the basketball event is in its 14th edition
and will be concluded today at
the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos with lots
of future Oyedejis on parade. But
this cannot happen on a platter
because lots of corporate bodies
and individuals are needed to
come forward and bankroll other
sports begging for resuscitation
under the auspices of the NSSF.
In the 2008 edition of the basketball competition for example,

a total of 3,500 schools nationwide participated in the event
from the preliminary stage in
states, to the national finals and
today the number of schools competing has increased.
Aside the aforementioned,
Nigeria, with lots of her inhabitants living in riverine areas, can
take up the gauntlet by producing great swimmers that can beat
the best in the world and this can
only come to fruition if the corporate bodies are willing to sponsor
these grassroots competitions,
which are aimed at exposing hidden talents even from schools.
Another advantage of discovering athletes from schools is that
it helps to catch them young especially at their right ages; thereby
eliminating the age-cheat syndrome, which has rubbished the
image of Nigerian sports, especially in football.
HT discovered in NSSF’s competitions, that they have zero tolerance for age cheats as athletes
featured in their competitions
are screened thoroughly in an attempt to curb this cankerworm.
Therefore, if the National Sports
Commission (NSC), Nigeria
Football Federation (NFF) and
other sporting bodies should
rally round NSSF, the issue of
using over-aged players in youth
competitions would be a thing of
the past, as athletes discovered
would remain long in the sporting terrain; competing and winning laurels for our dear country.

SPORT NEWS

Ijeomah hails Nestle Milo for
supporting basketball development

I

ANDREW EKEJIUBA

T

he coach of International School, Lagos
(ISL), Ernest Ijeomah,
has commended the efforts
of Nestle Milo Nigeria PLC
for supporting the growth
and development of basketball in the country.
Ijeomah, who did not hide
his emotions because of the
quality of officiating and
players on parade from the
different schools that made
it to ongoing national finals
of the Nestle Milo National
Secondary Schools Basketball Championship said
the country will benefit immensely from the products
of the competition.
“I think Nestle Milo has
remained children friendly
with this initiative of supporting basketball for the
past 14 years. Today, most
of their products from the
championship are already

making it to the national
team which is commendable.
“This year, the company
has shown its sincerity to
sports development with
the laying of new floor at
the Indoor Sports Hall of the
National Stadium, Lagos;
the floor is world class equipment, which is the first in the
country,” he enthused.
Ijeomah, whose school is
one of those participating in
the ongoing national finals
in Lagos, believes that claiming the coveted trophy of the
14th Nestle Milo Secondary

School Basketball Championship by his school remains
their greatest priority.
“We were unfortunate to
have lost the title last year and
this year we are eager to redeem our image by ensuring
that we are on top of things
during the final. We believe we
will scale through to the final
even as we continue to work
hard to achieve our dream of
lifting the trophy come Saturday,” Ijeomah said.
However, ISL has crashed
out at the semi-finals of the
competition.

n tandem with preparations for the FIFA
U-17 Women’s World
Cup in Azerbaijan in September, the national U-17
team, The Flamingoes,
will be having a training
match with State House
Football Club of Abuja
today.
The coaching crew feels
this match will ascertain
properly the fitness level
of the players’ vis-à-vis
playing to instructions
and tactics.
The team will also take
on Ghana’s U-17 ladies
team, The Black Maidens,
in two friendly matches
later this month to test
their might.
Ghana are drawn in
Group D with Uruguay,
China PR and Germany
while The Flamingoes are
drawn with hosts, Azerbaijan, Colombia and
Canada in Group A.

Meanwhile, five players were on Friday
dropped from the team.
These players are Okafor
Lovina, Waheed Aminat,
Kehinde Akinwade, Jennifer Ajuwah and Maryam Abdulrashid.

Flamingoes in training.

Thirty players are
therefore left in camp as
the training match with
State House Football Club
of Abuja will be played
at the FIFA Goal Project,
National Stadium, Abuja
by 3:00pm.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 11, 2012

15

16

SPORT

August 11, 2012

NSC needs complete
overhauling –Eseka

C

hris Eseka, a veteran sports journalist,
on Friday called for
a complete overhauling of
the National Sports Commission (NSC) in order to
ensure the development of
sports in the country.
Eseka made the call in
an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
in Lagos, against the backdrop of Team Nigeria’s
dismal performance at the
London 2012 Olympics.
“The problem facing

sports development in Nigeria is from the administrators and not the athletes training with scarce
facilities. And it’s only an
overhauling of the personnel involved in running
sports that can ensure a
positive change.
“There are so many
old hands that must leave
for new ideas to emerge,”
he said.
According to him, if the
necessary changes are not
effected the trend will con-

tinue until it dwindles to a
state where changes will
be difficult.
“I do not expect any welcome programme whenever Team Nigeria arrives
the country, instead, we
will only raise our voices
against their poor showing without asking for
changes,” Eseka said.
The analyst then called
for four-year sustenance
of the Innocent Egbunikeled technical team in athletics, to ensure stability.

espite their failure to make it to
the
quarter-final
stage of the men’s basketball event of the ongoing
London 2012, a former international and Technical
Adviser of Kano Pillars
Basketball Club, Abdulrahman Mohammed, says Nigeria Basketball Federation
should build on the performance of the country’s senior basketball team otherwise known as D’Tigers.
The current D’Tigers
team made history as they
qualified for the quadrennial event for the first time
ever, but failed to make it

out of their group which
has super powers like the
United States, France and
Russia.
The coach Ayo Bakareled team made a bright start
to the championship beating their Tunisian counterparts, but succumbed to
France in their last match to
confirm the team’s early exit
from the basketball tournament, having lost five out of
there six matches.
Abdulrahman who has
also represented the country at the senior level believes the team has done the
country proud, but charged
the basketball authorities to
ensure the current squad is
kept for the sake of continuity and development.

A

fter helping his
team qualify for
this year’s Federation Cup semi final, Heartland FC of Owerri midfielder, Kingsley Salami,
says his dream is to help
his side reach the final of
the yearly competition.
The Nazi Millionaires,
who are the defending
champions, defeated Crown
FC of Ogbomoso 2-0 to book
the semi final ticket and
will face the surprise entrants of the tournament,
Prime FC of Oshogbo.
Heartland beat former
champions Enyimba FC
to lift the competition
last year and Salami who
played a major role in that
victory believes his side

has the quality to make the
final and retain the trophy.
“We have come far
in this tournament, but
our focus is now on the
match against Prime FC
of Oshogbo who have also
proved everybody wrong
with their performance
and we hope to beat them

D

Chief Patrick Ekeji, Director General, National Sports
Commission.

Kano, Kwara
clash as Milo
Basketball
Championship
ends in Lagos

K

Salami dreams Federation Cup
final with Heartland
SAYO OGUNDEJI

London 2012: Amuzie
blames government over
Team Nigeria’s poor show

ANDREW EKEJIUBA

D’ Tigers Ike Diogu

so that we can make the final again.
“Most of our players
are still very available
and with the experience
we have garnered over the
years, I strongly believe we
are on course for another
final if we play to our full
potential,” he concluded.

ano’s Ahmadiyyah
College will be aiming to defend its title
in the boys event of the 14th
Milo National Secondary
School Basketball Championship, as the Coach Shuaibu Maitama-tutored team
confront Kwara’s Government Secondary School in
today’s epic final holding at
the Indoor Sports Hall of the
National Stadium in Lagos.
Our correspondent gathered that plans are underway by Nestle Nigeria Plc
to make today’s final glamorous as top artiste, Davido,
will spice up the atmosphere
during the event scheduled
to kick off at 10am.
Kano team’s unbeaten
streak was not halted yesterday in the semi-final match,
as the northern team overwhelmed their Lagos State
counterpart, International
School, Lagos (ISL) 52-27 to
berth in the final.
Western
Conference
champion, Kwara managed
to beat Ebonyi’s St Augustine’s School 40-36 in the second semi-final tie to set up a
final clash against Kano.
In the girls’ event, it will
be a fight between two Niger Delta States, as Delta
and Bayelsa tango in today’s
girls’ final.
RESULTS OF MILO SECONDARY
SCHOOLS BASKETBALL CH’SHIP

Semi finals – Girls
Benue 24-29 Delta
Heartland FC of Owerri.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Lagos 14-28 Bayelsa

r Cyprian Amuzie,
Anambra
State Director of
Sports and acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of Youth and Sports, has
taken a swipe at the Federal Government over
the dismal performance
of Team Nigeria at the
ongoing London 2012
Olympics. He blamed
Nigeria’s medal drought
at the ongoing Olympics
on poor preparations and
the delay in the release
of funds by the government for sporting activities in the country.
He
revealed
that
athletes should not be
blamed for the poor outing, pointing out that
their performance was
only a reflection of the
country’s level of preparedness for the Games.
“You will not blame

the athletes so much because they are not magicians; because some
countries started camping and training for the
London Olympics immediately after the Beijing
Games.
“We cannot expect
to get the same results
as those countries that
have trained elaborately
for the Games,” Amuzie
said.
He
regretted
that
funds were not released
on time for the games,
stressing that any delay
in the release of government funds usually resulted in wastages.
Amuzie, however, commended the national basketball team, D’Tigers,
for doing Nigeria proud
as the first African basketball team to win a
match at the Olympics.

Taekwondo coach
blames Mohammed’s
ouster on poor coaching

T

he Chief Coach of
Kano State Taekwondo
Association, Ibrahim Yahuza, has
blamed Isah Mohammed’s
ouster from the Olympic
Games on poor communication and sub-standard
coaching from Nigeria’s
Korea-born coach.
The Korean, Kaum Sihwan, was employed by
the National Sports Commission (NSC) earlier
this year to prepare taekwondoists Chika Chukwumerije and Moham-

med for the London 2012
Games.
The News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) reports
that Mohammed lost to
Jordan’s Mohammad Aabulibdeh in the 68kg category at the preliminary
stage on Thursday in the
Summer Olympic Games.
Yahuza told NAN on
telephone that it was
wrong to employ a foreign
coach who did not know
the Nigerian taekwondoist to prepare him for
the Games.

Nasarawa signs N130 million
sports contract with Australia

N

asarawa
state
government has
signed a N130 million sports contract with
an Australian firm, Basri Sports & Equipment
Company, for the supply
of sports equipment and
kits to the sports sector
of the state.
The state commissioner for information
and orientation, Mrs. Titi
Monde, disclosed this
yesterday while briefing
journalists on decisions
taken at this week’s state
executive council meeting.

She said, as part of
the contract agreement
between the government
and the firm was for the
firm to sponsor and train
the state-owned football
team, Nasarawa United
FC, for a period of one
year.
Monde
continued
that a team of Australian sports investors are
already in the state collecting technical data to
determine on how to assume a perfect partnership with the Nasarawa
State government in the
sporting industry.

MAGAZ INE
Fashion
•If you must
wear a hat
•Inspiring
your black

Sex talk
•How much sex
is too much or
too little?

Relationships
•When love clashes
with infidelity

Isabella

MBGN 2012

18

August 11, 2012

Isabella Ayuk currently
occupies a position that
most Nigerian women
would do anything for. She
is the Most Beautiful Girl in
Nigeria. And luckily for her,
she is also the 25th MBGN,
a milestone for her. She tells
OSEYIZA OOGBODO about
her plans and other related
issues. Excerpts:

Celebrity

who are envious of your status?
Uneasy lies the head that wears the
crown. It comes with the office. Being
MBGN is big, envious people are everywhere, especially when they are afraid
of your rising. It’s not new to me. I love
every moment as MBGN though.
How do you deal with those envious ones?
Dealing with envious people is like
dealing with the devil. I simply ask God
to deal with them while I focus on my
projects.
You are the 25th queen. How do
you intend to make your reign a truly memorable one?
God who gave me this crown will
make it memorable. I can’t move faster
than God. Just watch and see what God
will do for I am the Bible’s Queen Esther
of our time.

H

ow does it feel to be MBGN?
It feels great. It’s a dream
come true.

Would you say it’s your intelligence and beauty that won you the
crown?
I would say besides my beauty and intelligence, God designed the year, 2012,
as a year he kept aside to fulfil His promises.

What plans does the Silverbird
Group have for you since you are a
milestone queen?
Silverbird Group has got a lot for me,
I’m already enjoying all my packages,
Silverbird Group is the best and I’m
glad I emerged their milestone queen.

When did you first nurse the idea
of attempting to become MBGN?
2009.

Is it really worth it to be MBGN?
It is really worth it. Words alone can’t
describe it. It’s a lifetime opportunity
and I will live to remember it.

Why?
I desired to be MBGN since 2009 because I have always wanted to use the
platform to campaign against typhoid
fever and also to help the widows, the
needy and the less privileged and I believe MBGN is the most prestigious
beauty pageant in Nigeria on which
platform I can do this. And to get to the
peak whereby I can say I am fulfilled in
pageantry, then, it has to be MBGN. It
takes a determined soul to stay on track,
so all thanks to God.
What were the obstacles in your
path to becoming a queen?
There were really no obstacles. All
I needed was the support of my family
and they gave it to me fully.
How prepared are you to cope
with the pressure of being a public
figure?
I don’t think anyone can ever be fully
prepared. I just look up to God.
What project are you embarking
on as queen?
I tagged my project Sustainable Charity Project. When I was crowned MBGN
2012, I said I was going to campaign
against typhoid fever and distribute free
typhoid vaccines to my target group and
also educate the public on the impacts
and dangers of typhoid fever and how it
could be prevented. That’s exactly what
I’m doing. I am also empowering widows by creating small scale businesses
for them. I am also awarding scholarships to primary and secondary school
less privileged children. I am renovating widows’ houses, health care centres,
schools, equipping libraries and providing healthcare facilities. I also provide
food items to widows and the needy. All
I’m doing is in line with the millennium
development goals.
What are your plans for after your
reign?

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

How exactly is it worthwhile to
you?
It has opened doors I never thought
of. It has afforded me the opportunity to
campaign against typhoid fever, to help
the widows/needy and the less privileged.

,
N
G
B
M
h
t
i
W
’
‘
d
e
l
l
fi
l
u
f
m
I’
It is to be a fashion designer and also
continue with the good work God has
sent me to do which is the sustainable
charity project.

bassador, a well known fashion designer
around the world, a philanthropist, a politician and many more. Being MBGN is
just the first step.

How would you describe yourself ?
I am just a small town lady with big
dreams, determined and down to earth.

Do you feel fulfilled?
I am fulfilled and blessed because I am
not just MBGN 2012, I am Silverbird’s Silver Jubilee Queen.

Tell us more about your big dreams.
To be Miss Universe 2012, a UN Am-

How do you feel about the people

What else don’t people know
about you?
Going to NYSC camp was the best
thing that ever happened to me because
my future is very important to me, not
mindful of what people are saying about
me and I’m looking forward to the Miss
Universe competition in December.
What are your plans for Miss Universe?
My plan is to go there as a determined Nigerian lady who believes you
can do, be whoever you want to be in life
and make Nigeria proud by bringing the
crown to Nigeria and becoming the first
Nigerian to be Miss Universe and the
fifth African to win it since 1952.
Do you really think you can win
it?
I have got all it takes. Yes I can.
How are you preparing for it?
By losing more weight, taking good
care of my skin, reading and learning
more, knowledge is never enough, and
staying positive.
What is your beauty routine?
I really don’t have any.
How intelligent would you rate
yourself ?
To be MBGN you have to be intelligent, so I am intelligent, even if I say so
myself.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

19

August 11, 2012

Entervaganza

With OSEYIZA OOGBODO

08023755142

kingseiza@gmail.com

Maheeda
confirms
born-again status
W
hen the news filtered into town about a
couple of weeks ago that sexy and raunchy
singer-performer, Maheeda, had turned a
new leaf to the extent of giving her life to God,
many people were sceptical, believing it to be a
publicity stunt.
Even though she released three gospel songs
and also announced her evangelism project,
Maheeda Youths For Christ, the opinion of
the sceptics still remained that the Maheeda
who used to release nude pictures of herself
onto the internet couldn’t have become born
again and that she was only making noticeme noise again.
But probably in a bid to convince the
doubting Thomases once and for all that
she is no longer the bad girl they used to
know, Maheeda held a press conference
to announce her new status to the world.
“I’m now born again. I’ve given my life
wholly to Christ. I was walking the path of
darkness before but now I’ve seen the light
and I’m saved,” she said.
It is not unusual for people to become
born again and then backslide back into
their previous wayward lifestyles. “I’m born
again forever,” Maheeda said. “It’s only by His
grace that one can be born again and I believe
that His grace will keep me born again forever.”
Like most new converts, she is so dedicated and committed to her newfound faith
that she now has her own ministry, Maheeda
Youths for Christ Intercessory and Evangelical Ministry, and also wants to erase her
naughty past.
“I regret my past secular songs. They
were lewd and meaningless and of no value to the world. I am contemplating banning them from airplay.”
Her new gospel songs are The Message, Halleluyah and The Way of Christ.
Some of her secular songs that she
wants to ban are her breakthrough hit,
Oko Yanpia, Mo Gbono, Panpangolo.
Even if we have to give her time to
discover how serious she is or otherwise about living a righteous life,
one thing is certain. She will be a
successful gospel musician. Just
like her secular songs were critical and commercial successes, her
gospel songs too are hot and will definitely take over the airwaves.

KSA lauds anniversary
committee

A

Maheeda

s plans to mark the 35th
anniversary of the crowning of Sunny Ade as King
of Music progress, KSA has
praised the efforts of the
Akogun Lekan Alabi-led
planning committee so
far.
S p e a k i n g
through Clement Ige, one of
his top associates, he
expressed
profound
appreciation to the
s eve n - m e m b e r
committee for the
lofty plans already put
in place for his crowing anniversary, adding that reports
are continually reaching him as
well on the support some of his fans
have promised over the landmark
anniversary.
“KSA is beside himself with joy on
what your committee has done so far. He
will meet you all soon so that plans can
be harmonised to suit all stakeholders,” Ige
disclosed.
Two weeks ago, a seven-member committee
was set up to oversee the planning and activation of the proposed KSA 35th Crowning Anniversary later in the year and Alabi was made
the committee’s chairman, following his successful packaging of Evangelist Ebenezer
Obey’s 70th birthday party in Lagos two
months ago.
It was unanimously agreed that the former Corporate Affairs Manager of O’odua
Group of Companies be made the committee’s head so his experience could bear on
the successful activation of the anniversary.
In the letter confirming Alabi’s appointment as Chairman, and signed
by Olutade Makinde, the anniversary’s coordinator, Akogun was
invested “with full powers and
authority to direct the affairs leading to the successful implementation of the
crowning
anniversary later
this year.”

Reacting, Akogun said it was an honour and
privilege to chair the planning committees of
historic events for the two juju icons.
“I remember that in my weekly column in
Sunday Sketch, I described Obey and Sunny as
champions of their trade. How prophetic! I derive great pleasure in celebrating creativity and
excellence. Obey and KSA are models and one
cannot but be proud to be associated with them.
My appointment, in a lighter mood, can be regarded as payback. May God enable my committee to achieve equal success for KSA as we did
for Obey last April,” he said.
Other members of the committee are Clement Ige (Vice Chairman); Chief Bunmi Adesanya, Asewa Iyalode of Ibadanland (member);
Aare M.A. Latosa; Mr Akin Olaiya (Director
of Operations) and Barrister Gbenga Makinde
(Secretary).

Teacher aims for writing glory
A
n English language lecturer at the Institute of Management and Technology, Ifeoma Okoye, is aiming
for glory in the world of international bestsellers
with her new book, Chimere. It is a work that can be easily
adapted into a movie.

Astutely, Okoye plotted Chimere on the theme that is tested, tried, trusted and guarantees success: tragic romance.
And pundits are already saying that it deserves to be made
into a movie, a trend which is gradually seeping into Nigeria but is already the norm in America’s Hollywood.

Sunny Ade

20

ENTERVAGANZA

August 11, 2012

CLASSICAL RYHMES

AIRWAVES LINK

Project Fame
West Africa
back again

Fe Nu So

F

or the next 10 weeks, Project
Fame West Africa (PFWA), one
of the hottest shows in the Nigerian TV calendar, will be back again to
thrill numerous viewers who will have
no choice but to experience the emotional ups and downs and suspense
that are its hallmark.
A music talent contest, PFWA plays
on viewers’ emotions by eliminating
its contestants in stages until the winner emerges. Now in its fifth season,
the 15 finalists who made it into the
PFWA Academy have been announced.
They were chosen from 18 contestants who performed at its opening
gala last weekend and the show immediately began living up to its billing by
eliminating three of the hopefuls just
at that point when they had one leg in.
The remaining 15 are however not
out of the woods themselves. Now that
they are in the show’s academy, they
will have to work very hard to remain
there.

Didi

Mercy

Joshua
Sonia
Some of the contestants

‘I was shocked when I won StarGame’

M

any people are still
surprised that Keagan Petersen was
the eventual winner of the
90-day Big Brother StarGame
which ended last Sunday
with a $300,000 monetary
prize. The news for such people however is that Keagan
himself is shocked.
“I was extremely shocked
when I was announced as
the winner,” says Keagan.
“I wasn’t sure what Africa
wanted, I wasn’t sure how the
voting was actually going to
go and I didn’t know where I
stood, so that’s why I was extremely surprised when my

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

name was called out to be the
winner.”
Keagan was noted for being the most troublesome
housemate but he explained
his attitude in the house was
exactly how he behaves. “I
was always at the centre of
mischief, always doing crazy
random and spontaneous
things.”
Another high point in Keagan’s stay in the reality show
was his relationship with
Zambian housemate Talia.
He described the relationship
as one of “a mutual understanding.”
The relationship, he hint-

ed, may lead to a union between the two but quickly
added that the final decision,
however, rested with her.
A night before the finale,
the two lovebirds were captured by the cameras in a
very intimate position. Keagan confirmed that they – Talia and himself – had sex in
the Big Brother house and
does not hold any regrets for
the affair.
Touching on what he plans
to do with the prize money,
Keagan, who entered the reality show with a male partner,
Lee, said he may share the
money with his mate.

Talia, after her eviction
on Sunday night, told IK, the
host of the Big Brother StarGame, that the last six housemates, Prezzo (Kenya), Lady
May (Namibia), Kyle (Uganda) and Wati (Malawi), Keagan and herself had agreed
to share the prize money between themselves irrespective of who won.
Quizzed whether there was
such an agreement, Keagan
hinted that there is a possibility that the other housemates
could also get a share of the
money but stressed they were
yet to extensively discuss
that.

oundcity on-air personality,
Yeancah,
is advocating hard
against domestic violence.
She has initiated Lady With
the Zoom Effect (LWTZE) for
this purpose and is currently ironing out the modalities
for a TV show that will wage
war against domestic abuse.
Yeancah’s moving against
domestic abuse is as a re-

sult of the widely reported
recent numerous cases of
abuses, especially those of
couples who are supposed
to be in love but end up with
a spouse killing his or the
other.
Yeancah is a wife and
mother herself so it’s obvious why she’s very concerned with the rising incidences of the ugly trend.

Lord of Ajasa

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

ENTERVAGANZA

August 11, 2012

21

BOX-OFFICE HITS

BRAIN BEHIND THE SCENE

W

Adesunloye

Joseph Adesunloye …
Writer, director, producer

B

orn in Lagos, Nigeria, Joseph Adesunloye, who is now
based in the United Kingdom
(UK), is a top-notch writer, director
and producer. Being as talented as
they come, he is not one to rest on
his oars so he founded his own company, Dreamcoat Productions, to
make a reality of his creative aspirations in the film industry.
“My goal is to merge my African and European film interests
through Dreamcoat. Dreamcoat
is involved in every aspect of film
production. We specialise in high
quality film and video productions
services for creative industries, corporate companies and NGOs.”
Quite recently, Dreamcoat took
on a major production, Labalaba, a
tragic stage play based on different
cultures and religions of Nigeria.
Set in Nigeria’s north, Labalaba,
which was co-written and directed
by Adesunloye, is about Atikah, a
Muslim girl who falls madly in love
with a southern Nigerian, Colonel
Fashola, whilst he falls in lust with
her. She rejects her family and religion to become one with her husband only to find herself destitute,
fighting desperately to save a love
that was never really there.
Adesunloye is definitely riding
high behind the scenes dictating
how movies, short films, plays and
other productions actually turn out.
He is fulfilled behind the scenes and
intends to remain there. But how
did he end up there where it’s all

about technicalities and it’s more
difficult to survive than in front of
the camera?
Education, education and more
education is the answer. Though
he is naturally talented, he keeps
acquiring film education in order
to keep up with the constant development in the sector. He graduated
from the University of Aberdeen
with a Masters of Arts in English
Literature and Film Studies and
still went on to the London Film
Academy where he also worked on
the Filmmaking Foundation Courses after completing his year-long
Filmmaking Diploma.
His success is also as a result of
hard work. He has been building solid industry experience in the past
several years working on varied
projects as a freelance filmmaker
both as a director and in the production department on a variety of
films, television series, social documentaries, commercials and music
videos. His diverse experience in
film has led him to film and television work both in Africa and the UK
over the past four years.
The city of Aberdeen was also of
enormous inspiration to him in getting his creative juices flowing. “As
an English and Film Studies student I enjoyed the performing arts
and cinema venues that Aberdeen
offers, plus an excellent nightlife,
and they too motivated me to want
to make an impact in the production
world.”

h e n
t h e
film
opens, we meet
super
soldier
Aaron
Cross
in the wilds
of
Alaska,
completing a
solo training
mission. We
know he’s a
super soldier
because
he
can swim in
freezing cold
water
and
punch
out
a big grey
wolf
with
his
bare
hands.
But before
you
start envying Cross’s
s u p e r
powers,
you might
want to know
that in order for him to stay ... super,
he needs a daily dose of pills - one
blue to keep his brain enhanced and
one green to keep his biceps from
deflating. And his supply of drugs is
rapidly dwindling.
Too make matters worse, the CIA
wants him dead.
It seems their little secret programme, Outcome, which was designed to create super soldiers, has
become infected by the arrival of
Jason Bourne in New York City.
The guy in charge of Outcome,
Eric Byers, decides that it’s best to
kill everyone associated with this
clandestine operation.
The CIA being the CIA has no

trouble knocking off all of Outcome’s participants, except of
course for Aaron and Dr. Marta
Shearing, a genetic scientist who
worked on developing the drugs
that turned these everyday dudes
into supermen. One notable scene
is when Dr. Marta gets a visit from
some not so friendly peeps at her
home.
Naturally, how could you have
an action film without the male
and female leads hooking up? So
of course, soldier meets doctor and
together they evade the CIA, while
at the same time figure out a way
for Aaron to keep his super powers.

I

t’s the story of a
guy, Tommy, who
has become infertile, but who, years
before, during his
fertile years, had sold
his sperm - quarts of
it, apparently - to a
sperm bank.
Now he wants a
test-tube of it back,
but no one wants to
give it to him. Terrified that his marriage
may fall apart, he recruits his friends and
an Indian ex-mobster
to rob the sperm
bank.
As with any halfbaked scheme, everything can and
does go wrong, testing the limits of his
marriage. A hilarious twist on the heist
film genre, The Babymakers is a laughout-loud comedy showing how far one

couple will go in hopes of creating a
new life.

22

ENTERVAGANZA

CELEBRITY
FAVOURITES

August 11, 2012

SHOWBIZ SNOOPS

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Send your views and comments as SMS to 08023755142

Cocoa asks Why
S

aying that musicians are a dime a dozen is nothing
but the truth. They emerge on a daily basis with different concepts to gain acceptance from the public.
Sometimes they make headway, most times they don’t. For
every successful artiste, there are tens of thousands who
will never make the limelight.
Cocoa, a rising singer-songwriter, intends to make the
coveted limelight, though. And her approach is by deviating from the norm. While most aspiring musicians opt for
dancehall records, she prefers to stand out from the crowd
by releasing a ballad instead.
Titled Why, Cocoa says it narrates “the emotional turmoil of being in the wrong kind of relationship. A lot of
women out there share similar experiences so this track
lets them know that they are not alone and hopefully they
gather strength from that.”
A music prodigy, she started performing solos in church
at the age of six, won her first-ever talent show at 14 and
started leading solos backed by an entire mass choir at 17.
Explaining how she came to have such enormous talent
at an early age, she said, “My father used to be a DJ and my
mother has always been in the choir so my music abilities
were always encouraged but it was never an option as a
serious career choice.”
Cocoa
Hence, she studied Psychology but shortly after graduating, she finally chose to pursue music and enrolled in The cians and gain a broader perspective of the music industry.
British Academy of New Music in London to develop her
And now as she asks why, we can only hope her question will
musical skills further, be mentored by professional musi- be answered.

he Nigerian DJs (UK) is set to
host its 2nd Annual Green and
White Industry Party on Thursday 23rd August 2012.
This year’s party promises to be
even bigger. Last year’s event saw a
number of celebrities such as D’Banj,
Don Jazzy, Wande Coal, D’Prince, JJC
Skillz, Storm’s DJ Neptune, Omo Akin,
Bayoz Music, May7ven, Julius Agwu
and others gracing the event.

The aim of the party is to create
awareness of the Nigerian DJs (UK)
and also highlight the important role
that DJs play within the entertainment
industry.
The event serves as a trendsetter
through the network opportunity it
provides. Producers, artistes, promoters and even budding artistes as well
as fans get to meet their favourite DJs
all under one roof.

Attendees also get a firsthand
glimpse of the direction of travel in the
world of UK entertainment. The Nigerian DJs (UK) uses this platform to
promote upcoming music from artistes
from Nigeria, UK and around Africa.
The event itself has earned the name
‘Opening Ceremony’ as it’s the event
that kick starts all other events happening over the Bank holiday weekend
in the UK.

GOMAN attains three decades, honours Obey

D

espite the unending intricacies
of the Nigerian entertainment
sector which don’t aid the longevity of its professional bodies, the
Gospel Musicians Association of Nigeria (GOMAN) has attained the milestone of30 years of existence.
Consequently, GOMAN celebrated
the milestone at LTV’s popular Blue
Roof recently with many notable personalities including Sir Michael AdeOjo, Chairman, Evangelist (Dr) Ebenezer Obey, Rev. Ekpenyong Bassey,
Pastor J.I. Kalejaiye, Bishop Kayode
Odulaja, Papa Solomon Akinpelu (GOMAN’s first president) and legendary
Mama Deborah Fasoyin in attendance.
As expected, performances were the
order of the day and some of those who
took to the stage were Funmi Aragbaye,
Bukola Akinade aka Senwele Jesu,
Benita Okojie and Oshadipe twins.
In his welcome address, Evangelist
Rotimi Orokoya (Telemi), the National
President of GOMAN, called for unity
among Nigerian gospel musicians and
Christians. He reminded gospel musicians that their calling is not only for
making melody to increase their pay

Obey

pocket. but they should be concerned
with correcting the ills in the society
with their music.
He implored gospel musicians to
make music that would send corrective message even in the political set
up and stop sitting on the fence when
all is not well with the nation.
In his thought provoking sermon,

Pastor J.T. Kalejaiye admonished gospel musicians to jettison the craze for
bogus titles and make more powerful
soul winning music. He also urged
them to dig deep into the word of God
for the revelation of the kind of songs
that will draw unbelievers to God’s
kingdom. He also warned them that
it is very dangerous to become musicians of revenue without revelation at
this end time.
It would be called the GOMAN began as an initiative of Dr. Ebenezer
Obey and was supported by Pastor
Akinlade in 1976 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Then it was known as Gospel Musicians Association. In 1988 when it was
formally inaugurated at CAC Agbara
Olorun Kii Bati, Lagos its name was
changed to Gospel Musicians Association of Nigeria (GOMAN).
The highlight of the august gathering was the honouring of Evangelist
Obey who is visionary and the pillar of
the body for the past 30 years. GOMAN
celebrated him by marking his 70th
birthday with lots and lots of tributes
to him and a specially designed birthday cake.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

ENTERVAGANZA

August 11, 2012

23

SHOWBIZ SNOOPS

Benue wins
international
culture contest

‘Men are
afraid of me’
TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

HENRY IYORKASE

C

atherine Daniels is savvy, pleasant, sexy and
witty. Without any iota of doubt her emergence is set to alter the pop and dancehall music flavour in the entertainment circle as she takes
the industry with storm with her songs and stylish
dance steps.
Now, Daniels, a graduate of Human Kinetic and
Health of the University of Lagos, is having none to
do with her field of study. She is today a dancer.
“Music and dance is my life. I only went to school
to broaden my knowledge but my passion resides in
music,” she disclosed.
Sharing more light on her passion for music and
her new dance hall single, Talomojo (who knows how
to dance), which is currently enjoying maximum air
attention on several radio and television stations,
Catherine said Talomojo is a tip of the iceberg.
“This is just a glimpse of things to come from me
because and I am coming out to blow the minds of
lovers of pop and dance hall music. I like to shake
my ass because it is very big and that is one of the
attractions that get my fans entertained and I intend
to always keep them in good mood.”
Speaking on her adventure into the entertainment
industry, the busty diva, who is fondly called Cathrina, on stage, said she has been a singer and dancer
since she was in primary school, adding that people
are always amazed at her performance on stage owing to her big frame stature.
“I am still single though some men get intimidated
by my frame, I know the right man will come at God’s
time. My present focus is on my career and if marriage comes along the way, then I will pick it up,” she
said.

MAKURDI

N

Daniels

On the growing trends of music reality show, the
funky 25-years old diva that hails from Akwa-Ibom,
applaused the development but urged for more investment into the entertainment sector as numerous talents
abound in the country.

Gospel acts pay tributes to Connie Madubuko

T

ributes continue to pour in for Mrs Connie Madubuko, Apostle Anselm Madubuko’s wife who died
recently. Gospel musicians who are still finding it
hard to get over the reality of her sudden death as she
was a pillar of support in their lives, careers and ministries keep reacting to her demise
“I regret that you have gone so early. I wish you have
stayed much longer. Anyway, heaven is a place of rest
for all believers. I hope to see you in heaven,” said Dupe
Olulana.
“Your leaving so soon reminds us that sooner or later
we will have to answer the call too to give report of this
assignment that has been given to us all,” Pastor Kola

Olulana, her husband and producer added.
In their tribute, Igwe crooners, Midnight Crew said,
“The reality of Mama Connie’s demise was received
with great empathy. We salute her courage in leadership
and honour her through companionship as a partner.
May her gentle soul rest in perfect peace.”
Kora awards nominee, Hope Davies, who described
Connie as a true woman of God, added that she was a
powerhouse beside her husband. “I am so saddened by
her death because you know how you think you will
always have someone with you and you keep procrastinating. I was not as close as I wanted to be to her. That
makes me so sad. But being a child of God, I know we
will meet to part no more on the other side of the Jordan. Adieu Woman of God.”
In her tribute, Rosemary Chukwu submitted that
“since the second life is eternal, it should be the dream
of all. We would have loved your company here, but the
joy of life eternal took you. May your father whom you
believe in welcome you in His Kingdom. Sleep in peace
woman of God.”
The late Pastor Connie Madubuko was a native of
Umodo in Ezi, Oshimilli local government area of Delta
State. She was a Computer Science graduate. Late Connie who would have been 52 by July 25 worked for some
years before answering the pastoral call for full time
ministry with her husband. They founded the Revival
Assembly, with branches within Nigeria. She left behind three children.
She died on July 6th and has since been laid to rest at
the Ikoyi Cemetery.

igeria may have had a poor outing at the London Olympics Games but that is not to say that
the country cannot excel in other global contest, as the Benue State Arts Council Cultural Troupe
with its swange dance came second in an international cultural fiesta in Kota-Kinabalu Malaysia.
The event was the Sabah international Folklore festival (SIFF) held in the state of Sabah Kota-Kinabalu
in Malaysia.
The Benue State governor’s wife, Arc. Yemisi Suswam, who led the delegation, explained that the troupe
was chosen by the Minister of Culture and Tourism,
Chief Edem Duke, to represent Nigeria based on its
previous excellent performances.
No fewer than 20 countries from Africa, Asia, Latin
America and the Caribbean participated in the one
week cultural fiesta.
At the start of the fiesta two countries lost out in
the first round leaving the remaining 18 in the contest which major features included folk tales, folk arts,
painting, traditional foods and touristic outing to the
National Park (Mount Kinabalu) as well as Manukan
Island.
The troupe emerged as the second best performing
troupe with a distinct dance called ‘tsuwe tsele’, behind Peoples Republic of China which came tops in
the cultural contest.
The dance segment of ‘tsuwe tsele’ which won the
hearts of the judges is a unique dance steps that literally interprets dance of wisdom, in the Tiv parlance,
where the dancers are dressed in wild animal skins.
“What this means is that the history of Nigeria has
also been written in gold in the area of excellent cultural values and also showcase the rich cultural heritage in Nigeria to the outside world,” an elated Mrs
Suswam explained.
The governor’s wife who presented the second
place award to women at the banquet hall of Makurdi
Government House remarked that until now, Nigeria
was only popularly known in the comity of nations
for football.
The Artistic Director of troupe, Mr. Denen Gondo,
added: “Our dance troupe is known to have unique
dance steps and skills that is culturally innovated”.
The state Commissioner of Culture and tourism,
Mrs. Comfort Ajene, also on the delegation, commended the feat of the dance troupe for making the state
and Nigeria proud.

Mrs Suswam with the troupe

24

August 11, 2012

Woman

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

sides, I am a pastor and a pastor’s wife,
there are lots of people looking up
unto me within and outside. So, I had
to admit my fate and keep up the good
work, which is serving God, living His
taste and being grateful to Him for all
things. It was tough and appeared endless but I thank God, it all ended well.
This wouldn’t have been so without
the kind of husband I have and I thank
God for this.
How would you describe his role
at those trying times?
He was a rare gem; he was loving,
patient, kind and very supportive. He
was there for me with all encouraging
and soothing words. This really helped
me a great deal.

‘How I survived 17
years of childlessness’
For a decade and seven years, Pastor (Mrs.) Victoria
Olayiwola was married without a child. However, when the
babies finally came, they came in multitude and at once. The
joyous mother of a set of quadruplets spoke with YEMISI
ADENIRAN on her experience during the tough years of
waiting. She also offered advice to women seeking the fruit
of the womb.

W

hat were your expectations when you were getting married some years

ago?
My expectations were high, just like
that of any young woman or spinster
going into marriage. I was expecting
joy and peace in my home. I looked forward to a loving home; a place where

people would come and long to stay; an
enviable home to other homes, a Godfearing home where Christ is the head
of the home and of course, a home
blessed with wonderful children to
show as gifts from God. I had a lot of
expectations and I thank God, I have all
fulfilled.

When the babies did not come as
expected, how did you feel?
It wasn’t funny, but it was not any
big deal at first. I did not think I was
going to wait for this long, but when
the wait was becoming almost endless,
I thought that was the plan of God for
me and I had no other choice than to
wait for His time. As a Christian who
believes strongly in God and His words,
I had no other consolation than His
words. Yes, I was anxious but there
was nothing I could do. I prayed and
waited until God finally answered me.
It was not a funny period as any woman
would attest to. There were pressure
everywhere, even from within myself.
But as long as one has no other short
cut than Christ’s way, I had to wait. Be-

Were you expecting anything
short of this especially as he is a
pastor?
I was not, but if anything contrary
had happened, would the world have
come to an end? Would he have been
killed or sent on exile? He is a human
being like every other man and the
devil could have taken hold of the situation if God had not helped us. There
are stories of men and women of God
all over the place found in one adulterous act or the other and the world has
continued to move on. There are women of God who have passed through
the same road I passed and they have
fallen off by the way side. So, that I
have a man who stood by me throughout those trying times is no joke and
I won’t take it for granted. What if he
had decided to abandon me or eloped
with another woman or have a child
by one woman? You know, I wouldn’t
have been able to do anything. I am
grateful to God for the kind of man He
gave me. I will forever treasure him.
I thank God for His ever present help
in time of need as He has promised in
Psalm 46. His presence, in all, made
the pains, the anxieties, easier to bear.
It was 17 long years of pain and joy.
As a scientist, didn’t you feel you
should not try child-bearing when
you were already above 40?
It is popularly believed that having children after age 40 is risky. That
may be right but that is talking medically. How do you now counsel people
like us who are above 40 and are hoping to have a child? It is hard to tell or
advise us to give up the hope; you can
only join us to pray for a safe delivery
whenever it is time. I wasn’t ready to
give up trying, age or no age and to the
glory of God, I had no problem having
my children.
How did you feel when you finally missed your period?
It was like a dream and I really did
not know how to express my joy when
the pregnancy began to grow. I was
excited. There is nothing like feeling
your kids moving and kicking within

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

WOMAN

August 11, 2012

you. It is one experience that every
woman should have. It cannot be compared with anything and I am glad that
I can finally tell the same story.
Were you aware of the number
of children coming?
I was aware. You know we are in an
advanced level of technology now, so,
it was very easy to determine. At the
initial stage, I was curious and apprehensive but as a child of God, I became
bolder and reassured that God that had
started a thing will surely end it perfectly. He did not disappoint me; I give
Him all the glory.
Would you have preferred them
in another variety of sex?
I am happy with what God has given
me. What else would I have asked for? I
asked for a child and He gave me four.
This is just what we call blessing in
abundance. The years that seemed lost
to the enemies, the Lord restored them
to me. I am more than grateful; God has
put my enemies to shame. I am happy.
I am a fulfilled woman. If a woman is
yet to have a child, even a man, the society sees them as unfulfilled. The man
or woman will even see himself or herself as unfulfilled. By the grace of God,
I am fulfilled today. I have a complete
blessing and I owe everything to God.
What is your advice to women
waiting on the Lord for babies?
They should know that God is never
too late and that the delay in the coming of their babies is never denial.
The ways of God are never our ways,
they should therefore not be discouraged, and their joy is definitely on
the way. When I was getting married
17 years ago, I never thought my babies wouldn’t come until now. They
should trust in God who is the owner
of children. They should avoid friends
who will advise them against the will
of God. There are times some friends
and even relatives will come with all
kinds of suggestions, they should be
good listeners but be slow to take steps
that can lead them out of their homes.
Advice like trying other men, visiting
herbalists or some shady spiritualists
is against God and His words, they
should be wary of them. They should
also find something to keep them busy
because an idle mind and hand is the
devil’s workshop. They should find
time to study and meditate on the word
of God, through it, God will speak and
give a direction. They should again
take their time to read up people who
had gone through the same path one
time or the other and others who are
currently going through similar path;
they will find strength to go on and
happily too. They should seek medical advice too; it is always good to do
so. Rather than patronising people that
will take their advantage, they should
seek medical help and listen to their
instructions.
What if their husbands are not
as understanding and supportive as
yours?
They should find solace in God who
is always constant. They should be
committed to God and service. They
should be prayerful and God will touch

the man’s mind. They should not report their husbands to people or make
his attitude a topic with their friends
and relatives. They should pray and be
watchful. They should respect him and
his people as much as they can. God
that answered Hannah and Sarah will
answer them.

25

Keeping ABREAST

How do you relate with your persecutors during your trying times?
Like you just said, those times were
my trying times and at such times, anything can happen. No doubt, they were
periods of pain and anxiety but thank
God He saw me through. What if I am
still unable to sail through? I hold no
grudge against anybody; it was meant
to be that way and I thank God that He
has given me the last laugh that is the
best one now. I wouldn’t blame them
for anything; I believe they all acted
in whichever way they might have, out
of concern. It is well, that’s all that is
there to say.
How do you presently cope with
playing your roles as a wife, mother and minister among others?
I am grateful to God for the privilege to be all of these and I have learnt
to prioritise. I am first a Christian,
that is a child of God, and my day must
start with Him. I try to maintain quality times of praying and fasting. Once
I have that sorted out, my next priority is my husband. I am conscious that
I am his help mate. My vision is to do
him good all the days of our lives. I
am also available and sensitive to the
Holy Spirit’s leading, in order to help
my husband and I pray for him daily to
fulfil God’s counsel on earth. Next are
my children. God commits children
into our lives to raise them up in His
fear, paying attention to their spiritual,
physical, material, academic and feeding needs. So, I position myself to be a
praying, loving mother, being used by
God to raise godly offspring. I have
looked forward to becoming a mother
and I am not going to be a disappointment by His grace. Besides, I have people around me all the time to help in
one way or the other.
What advice do you have for
nursing mothers who are also ministers of God?
They should be faithful to their
calling, first by being faithful to their
husbands. If you are faithful to your
husband, you are faithful to God
and that is what God will reward. He
doesn’t give us the home to take away
the ministry from us or give you the
ministry to take away the home from
you. I see both together. If you are a
nursing mother and you cannot go for
ministration, don’t feel sad because
what you are doing is still a ministration. God gave you the baby, so you are
ministering to God through the baby
and the baby needs you. As a minster,
I just flow freely by the leading of God.
I don’t struggle to prove any point. I allow God to operate freely in my life and
so results have been spontaneous. And
I am just myself, I don’t have two dispositions. Whether at home, on the stage
or any other place, I am myself all the
time.This is how they should handle it
too.

Charlotte was named the new Miss England in June. (Inset) Charlotte pictured at six months old

Test-tube baby set to
become Miss World
 “I want to be the first IVF
Miss World,” says Charlotte
Holmes, one of Britain’s first
test-tube babies.

M

iss England 2012 winner
Charlotte Holmes has revealed that she hopes to make
history by becoming the first Miss
World to be conceived by IVF.
The 23-year-old recently revealed
how she was one of the first children
to be conceived by the procedure with
the help of Professor Robert Winston.
The brunette, who was born in
Plymouth, said her parents opted for
a trial test-tube baby programme after
trying to conceive a child naturally for
eight years to no avail.
“It is amazing to think that without the help of someone like Professor
Winston neither me or my sister would
be here today,” says Charlotte.
“I essentially owe him my life and
would love to make history by becoming the first Miss World conceived by
IVF.”
Charlotte’s mother Vonnie, now 60,
is thought to have been around 35 when
she and her husband Ken decided to
try IVF.
They were treated by Professor Winston, who appears in the BBC series

The Human Body and Child Of Our
Time, in 1988.
“…When the opportunity came up
to trial a new drug for IVF treatment,
I jumped at the chance and was extremely lucky that the egg implanted
first time, resulting in Charlotte,”
says Mrs Holmes.
“We have pictures of when Charlotte was just five cells old and we felt
so blessed. I wanted to wrap myself
up in cotton wool throughout the
pregnancy so that I didn’t miscarry’
“When Charlotte was eventually
born she was just 5lb 5oz but she
was perfect. Just 18 months later we
repeated the process to have our second daughter, Lucy.”
Charlotte was crowned the new
Miss England in June, taking over
from Alize Mounter, 23, from Kensington.
It came two years after she came
fourth in the sixth series of Sky Living’s Britain’s Next Top Model.
She is currently competing for the
Miss World crown in Mongolia and
has already secured a place in the
Miss World Top Model final.
If she triumphs in this section,
she will secure herself a place in the
top 15 competitors at the Miss World
grand final in Mongolia on August
18th.
Culled from www.mailonline.com

26

August 11 , 2012

Parenting

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression

E

very parent has been
there. The baby in your
arms is crying and miserable and you just wish they could
tell you exactly what is wrong.
But what if they have actually
been trying to tell you all along —
but you just haven’t known how
to listen?
An extraordinary new book
claims that every baby uses signals to communicate. It is simply
up to parents to learn how to interpret every gurgle, giggle and
facial expression.
In the Blossom Method, psychotherapist and body language
expert, Vivien Sabel, claims that
every expression an infant makes
can be interpreted so parents can
tell if their baby is hungry, happy,
upset, windy, wants to play or
needs a cuddle.
“All those adorable little shapes
a baby makes with her mouth,
tongue, lips, eyes and brows are
far more than something for us
to coo over, it’s their way of trying to tell us what they need,” she
explains.
Vivien observed hundreds of
babies during six years of research for the book — including
her own daughter, the Blossom
whom the book is named after
— during which time she developed a three-pronged principle:
observe your baby’s facial expression, mirror it back to them
to show them that you understand what they’re saying, then
respond by providing what it is
they’re telling you they need.
While her ideas may sound
a little far-fetched, there may be
something behind them.
Child development experts
believe that babies start to communicate long before they try to

Hey mum! I’m trying
to tell you something

z The faces babies pull aren’t just for nothing.
They are trying to communicate
erything from the furrow in her
form their first words, which is
typically from seven months old.
According to Claire Bolton,
a child development expert, “A
child is ready to communicate
from birth. They will amaze you
with how quickly they use movement, facial expressions and noises to try to communicate; it’s simply a case of reading the signs.”
Vivien Sabel says her own
non-verbal communication skills
were strongly developed in child-

Parenting

A

new study found that applying vaginal progesterone to women who are at
a high risk of preterm birth significantly decreased the odds of a

A preterm baby

hood. Her mum was born deaf, so
even as a toddler, Vivien had to
read the subtle variations in her
body language and facial expressions.
While everyone can read emotions in other peoples faces or
body language — to varying degrees — Vivien says that we don’t
fully utilise these signs, whereas
she has had to in order to ‘talk’ to
her Mum. “Within days of having
Blossom in 2004, I realised that ev-

brow to the little shapes she made
with her mouth and the different
ways she moved her tongue were
actually her way of trying to tell
me what she needed,” says Vivien.
“I watched Blossom closely
and began to see patterns to
these movements that linked to
whether she was hungry, about to
fill her nappy, was tired, windy or
needed affection. I knew not just
if Blossom was hungry, but how

hungry she was simply by how
far and how fast she moved her
tongue. When she was going to
have a wee or a poo, her tongue
would protrude in a pointed fashion, so I’d get a clean nappy ready.
“If she had wind, I’d see it in
the fullness of her bottom lip. As
soon as I saw the signs, I could
get straight on with winding
her rather than her becoming
distressed, mirroring her expressions so she understood that I
was going to help her.”
Vivien adds: “The mirroring
back part came through instinct.
I wanted to tell her that I knew
what she was saying by speaking her language, just as I always
have with Mum.
“You don’t need a degree to
read these signs, just the capacity to study your baby’s face.”
•Culled from www.mailonline.com

New
study
shows
promise
for
Update preventing premature births

premature delivery.
The new study, published in
the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, described a
two-prong strategy used by doc-

tors: participating pregnant women underwent a measurement of
the cervical length via transvaginal cervical ultrasound to define
risk for preterm birth; and those
found to have a short cervix were
successfully treated with vaginal
progesterone. A short cervix -- defined as a length of 25 millimeters
or less -- is a major risk factor for
preterm birth.
Approximately 12.9 million
births worldwide are preterm
which is defined as less than 37
weeks of gestation. “Early” preterm births -- those less than 32
weeks are associated with a high
rate of neonatal complications
and long-term neurologic disability. Late preterm births (between
34 and 36-6/7 weeks) represent 70
percent of all preterm births; and

although they have a lower rate
of complications than early preterm births, they are still a major
health care problem.
The study showed that the
vaginal application of progesterone gel significantly reduces the
rate of preterm birth in women
at less than 33 weeks of gestation,
but also is effective at less than 28,
32 and 35 weeks. This means that
vaginal progesterone reduces
both “early” and “late” preterm
births.
Vaginal progesterone administered to women with a short cervix detected via ultrasound also
reduced the rate of admissions to
the newborn intensive care unit;
respiratory distress syndrome;
the need for mechanical ventilation; and a composite score of

complications that included intracranial haemorrhage, bowel
problems, respiratory difficulties, infection and death.
According
to
the
lead
researcher,the
progesterone
treatment is safe because the
natural pregnancy hormone is
made by the placenta and the
ovaries during pregnancy.
“For too long, little progress
has been made in the prevention
of premature births,” he said.
“However, this new large study
shows that it’s possible to both
help women determine if they
are at risk for preterm birth, and
provide a safe and effective treatment to help prevent preterm
births.”
•Culled from www.newswise.com

Your candid response to all fashion questions
Evening beauty tips (II)
Apply eye cream
For refreshed-looking peepers, eye cream is a must. The skin
around the eyes is thinner than elsewhere on the body, and as you
age it becomes even thinner, which can result in under-eye circles and

hollowing. It is best to look for an eye cream or serum with vitamins
A, C, E, or K, which help repair the skin and lighten dark circles. If
you use a serum, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need a light eye cream on top of that to keep
the skin hydrated.
Switch up your sleep sides
It is easy to tell what side a patient sleeps on once that half of her

face has m
lows, but
you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
sleep -- wh
of your fa
Be hap

y

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 11, 2012

YEMISI ADENIRAN

T

he hat is as beautifying as the hair-dos, the dresses and
other accessories that we wear. If you must therefore wear
one, you need to be careful not to wear it wrong. These tips
will help:

Make it right with your face and body:

If you’ve fallen in love with a hat with a brim, make sure that
it is scaled just right for your face and body. Let it flatter your
skin and body frame as much as brings focus to your face.

STYLE & GLAM

29

Facelift

Don’t wear matchy-matchy hat

Leather hat with leather jacket for instance can only give you
an odd look. A little contrast will give your appearance a little
lift.

Wear a print hat on a plain dress.

This will give you a simple but metropolitan look.

Leave hair showing with a knit cap

Even chunky knit caps aren’t meant to stuff every strand of
hair inside. Leave bangs or wisps showing around the face. Also,
position the knit beret back far enough on the head that it doesn’t
look crammed on.

Don’t use a hat to save a bad outfit

A hat should complete a look, not save it, so be careful.

Use hats to polish up your denim

A great way to dress up your denim is to add a hat. But not just
any hat will do. It must be the type to elevate your whole look to
casual perfection.

Don’t wear a baseball cap

Reach for a baseball cap (or even worse, trucker hat) as a last
resort. It won’t dress up your look; in fact, it usually downgrades
everything a notch or two.

Play up the masculine-feminine vibe

Just because you are wearing a fedora doesn’t mean you
should skimp on makeup and jewelry. In fact, by playing up the
contrast (feminine woman wearing masculine hat) you’ll look
sexy like any of these models.

Don’t try exaggerated shapes

If you’re new to hat wearing, know that a well-scaled hat is
your most flattering option. Many women break this rule quite
successfully. An oversized hats can only give you a negative nod.

more fine lines. Some experts recommend anti-wrinkle pilbefore you go to the expense, Start out the night on the side
usually sleep on. Even if you end up flipping over in your
hich you probably will -- you’ll spend less time with one side
ace smooshed into the pillow. Or try sleeping on your back.
ppy

It must be emphasized that to look good, you need to feel good. A
happy face is not with lines. Just take time to enjoy life. What’s going
on on the inside is surely going to reflect on the outside, so spend a few
minutes reading a funny book or watching a humorous movie, go for
a walk, call a friend, or enjoy a piece of exquisite dark chocolate. All
in the name of beauty!

Hairless

wonder

Not everyone can pull off baldness regardless of the sex. For men it is very
cheap to be bald; for women its a different
kettle of fish all together. Although, men
are not meant to be bald only, ladies can be
especially when the situation dictates so.
Baldness is fashionable. Besides its ability
to make you look some ten years younger at
least, once your hair is falling off; you will
be doing yourself lots of good if you will
take a bold step of considering going bald.
Before you can be desirable as a bald chic,
you must follow these guidelines:
•Do not have it cheap: Allow a seasoned
beautician to check the state of the hair,
make right recommendation and handle it
expertly.
•Employ a good makeup artist: You need
a total new face colour for this unusual
look. A good makeup expert will re-shape
your eyebrow, eyelashes and recommend
the right accessories to carry on with the
bold look. You must wear a flawless makeup 24/7-If you are a woman of colour then
apply double more layers
•You must be a nubile chick
•You must be prepared to change your
dress sense to suit your look. And you must
dress damn good- No excuses.
•Walking upright is a must. If you try to
do, you will get used to your new look and
carry the people around you along too.
•Ooze confidence. This is very important because in this part of the world people think you are bald for a reason, either
chemotherapy or mental illness. But when
they look closely and sense your boldness,
they will appreciate your look.
•If you don’t have a partner before then,
THINK HARD, be prepared to be single for
the first couple of months- men like women
with hair and for all they care, you might
have cancer or worse still they might think
you are a miserable dyke.
•You must be slim. Live on a diet of lettuce and water.

30

STYLE & GLAM

August 11, 2012

Model

Trendz

Purple dreams

‘I am a
golden
fish’

YEMISI ADENIRAN

B

eautiful and very womanly, the purple colour is the royalty colour with
a rich hue that suits different skin
tones. It can be worn in various shades
and friendly with almost other colours,
from plum to lilac. It connotes seriousness and so, is right for any formal dates
and events. Match with statement accessories in its minimal form and you will be
speaking very expressly. The purple look
is all about the details - oversized clutch,
layered necklace, cocktail ring and studded cuff. Ever classy and chic, the trick
to wearing this colour is to keep makeup
very sheer and light; avoid dark purple eye
shadow too and you will be keeping it fun,
flirty and sexy.

Adelakun
Ayodeji Phillips
(a.ka.De’philz)
is a model and
musician. Born
some 22 years
ago to Prophet
R.A Adelakun,
he tells YEMISI
ADENIRAN how
he combines
being a model
and a musician.
He also talks
about his
exploits so far.

W

hen did your journey
into this career start
and what do you wish
to achieve?
I have been into this career since
2009 and my aim is to stand out like
every other achiever in the whole
world. All through my school days,
right from the primary to the tertiary level, I had always known that
I would be a golden fish in some
kind of way. I am not a noise maker
but definitely, I am not a quiet boy.
I don’t disturb people, but I know I
can entertain people. I make people
around me laugh and excited even
when I did not know that a career
was likely to emanate from it. I
can sing; I can catwalk; I mean I
can pose, (not nude), I can also excite people through some jokes. So,
many people always want to have
me around. That’s why I say, right
from cradle, I have known myself as
a golden fish and a golden fish can
never hide. It is always a desire of
many.
Why did you say you cannot
pose nude?
I can never do that. Why should
I? I am a prophet’s son; I am a child
of God who wants to live on the gift
of God that is in me. I am not desperate to have a face or money, so,
I won’t go into that. If indeed there
is a gift of God in me, I must make
a headway because the gift of God
in a man always makes a way to the
top for him. I will never pose nude
for anything.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

How rewarding is the job so far?
So far, I would say it has been good,
but definitely, it can be better.
Talking about your music career.
How many albums do you have to
your credit?
Just recently I released three singles, ‘Baby I love you’, ‘Kiss yeah’ and
‘Owo ojo pipe’. After those ones,
I went into a collaboration with Graham, my brother, to release ‘Beremole.’
How do you combine the two careers?
I am a young man of good health
and strength. Besides, I have a passion
for what I am doing. So, it’s easy. Nothing good comes easy and hardwork
from what I have seen and heard pays
with God’s backing.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

31

August 11, 2012

Male Essentials

W

earing a nerd glass
g
is one of the easiest ways to make
statement.
ake
e a fashion
f
Nerd glasses a
are
re not your regular
glasses, whether recommended
mended or otherwise.
They are distinctive because
cause of their big
lenses that bestow not just
st a sophisticated
look but an academic, serious
erious look as
well.
They are therefore very
ry fashionable
and lots of celebrities like
ike Jim Iyke,
Jaywon, D’Banj, Naeto C, Sexy Steel
and many others sport them
hem constantly. Wearing them will definitely
finitely make
you more attractive and appealing to
the opposite sex and even
n your associates, colleagues and business
usiness partners.
Why not go for them too?
oo?

08036961187

with Oseyiza Oogbodo kingseiza@yahoo.com
w

Nerd

mode

Shoe basics
1

. Pay attention to your shoes. Everyone else does. It’s hard for the nonfashion-maven to tell a more expensive
suit from a less expensive one, a highquality shirt from a medium-quality one,
and so on. But everyone can tell cheap or
poorly cared-for shoes. Buy the best ones
you can afford, and take care of them.
Polish them regularly (a few swipes with
a wax-infused polishing cloth is often all
it takes) and store them covered if you
won’t be wearing them for a long time.
Shoe trees, it turns out, are important:
they not only hold the shape of the shoe
but the cedar ones absorb moisture (and
thus odours) which helps preserve the

leather. (Aside:
de: women tend to pay a lot
of attention to men’s
men s shoes. Keep that in
mind when a) dating, and b) interviewing for a job.)
.)
. Shoes
es are made of leather (besides sneakers). Anything not
made of leather
her you can consider a nonshoe. Leatherr breathes and adapts to the
shape of your foot. The soles don’t have
to be leather, but the uppers do. (True
story: as a young
g man, my brother was
a car salesman in Las Vegas. In the summer, the tarmac could
ld get well over 150
degrees F. Standing out there with leather-soled shoes could give you seconddegree burns! So they wore rubberr soles,

2

after
which melted afte
ter a month or two
o and
replaced.)
had to be replace
p ed.))
. You
Y need
d more than one pairr of
but
more.
shoes,
es, bu
ut not too much
h mo
ore.
or
(lace-up
black
Black oxfords (la
ace-up d
dress shoes), bla
ack
loafers (slip-on sshoes), brown oxfordss or
you’re
loafers, and you’r
re set (not counting y
your
athletic shoes, off course). A pair off ankle-high boots in bl
black or brown can
an subloafers.
(burgunstitute for the loafer
ers. Ox-blood (bu
burgundy) shoes are harder to find but in theory
go with everything. You
u can pretty
pre
safely
ignore white shoes.
. The shinier the sho
shoe, the dressier.
shoes – nubuck
Matte-finish sho
uck (that
pebbly leather), suede, and distressed
ed

3

4

compatleather
her shoes are automatically compa
or khakis;; shinier shoes
ible
ble with jeans
j
shoe
might still go with jeans but it depends
depend
on the rest of your outfit, the dressier
you are the shinier your shoes can be. If
probyou can wear them with a suit, you prob
vice
ably can’t wear them with jeans, and vic
versa.
. Shoes should be the same tone or
darker than your pants. This iis all
the rule you need to know when ttrying
to figure out what shoes to wear. This is
shoes with
why you never wear brown sh
black trousers, but you can usually wear
black shoes with brown trousers. When
black.
in doubt, wear bla

5

32

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Relationships

When love clashes
Women forgive more

I

nfidelity,
ty that monster that
creeps into the best of relationships unawares all because one of the partners may
knowingly or unknowingly have
strayed from the sanctity of the
relationship is something that
is very common these days even
though we all pretend nothing is
amiss until it is almost too late to
rectify and do something about.
No one wants to share their
better half with someone else
especially when the sharing is
something sexual and who can
blame them. Not me in any case.
I wouldn’t want that happening
to me either. To say the feeling
the victim gets is just that of being hurt is an understatement.
Honestly, trust is perhaps one of
the feelings that get broken and it
may never be repaired or gotten
anew again. The innocent partner may never believe anything
that the culprit says again.
The question of whether a relationship can survive infidelity
depends on so many factors, the
major being the foundation upon
which the relationship is built on.
Infidelity is a major blow to trust
as I’ve already pointed out, but
that doesn’t mean a relationship
can’t survive it if the culprit is a
man. I know it is never easy and
will never be easy because a lot
of hard work will have to be put
into rebuilding trust within the
relationship.
As the culprit, there are certain
things that you can do to help heal
the wound you may have caused.
One is to come out clean and as
the victim, if you really can, keep
open a line of communication
as far as you are sure that your
partner is genuine about reconciliation and moving forward.
The culprit has to show integrity.
Integrity is the distance between
the thoughts of our heart, the
words spoken by our mouth and
finally, our acts (both in the closet
and in the open). Integrity is the
duration during which a promise
is converted to reality by showing
sincerity. Keep talking and listening, no matter how long it takes.
You can’t speed up your partner’s
healing. Both partners must be
committed to the healing process.
Both of you must be committed to
repairing the damage and recon-

necting.
necting
But if the culprit is the woman, the reverse will be the case.
Why should I as a man take back
a woman who’s directly told me
through her acts that I’m not the
‘special one’ to her. My ego is also
wounded as a man. Okay here it
is, before you say I’m using double standards, I’ll like to tell you
that “it’s a man’s world” in this
part of the world.
The issues involved makes
most men in this part of the
world to believe that infidelity
is the gravest of all marital offences and I quite agree with that
because of the trust and ego issues involved. Most women start
cheating as an isolated event that
after a while will become a pattern. And the common excuses
given by the woman may be from
the mundane to the very serious.
I once had a girlfriend in the
university who was cheating on
me while I thought we had a sizzling romance. For me, the relationship seemed destined for the
altar until we broke up. I didn’t
tell her that I knew about her
cheating on me until years later
even though we had remained
friends. When I confronted her on
the rumours I’d heard about her
having numerous older lovers
when we dated, the shock on her
face even then was priceless and
I knew that I’d only escaped being trapped in a marriage that’d
have been faulty by whiskers.
Thank God I have a beautiful
relationship now.
Finally, when it comes to the
survival of a relationship after infidelity, no matter what,
your gender in most cases will
determine whether it will or
not. Women are more forgiving
because they have been preconditioned to accept it as a way of
life for men. The society, even as
it is still changing, is more permissive of men cheating than
women. In fact a woman has no
business cheating is society’s
position on infidelity and I quite
support that position too. For
me personally, I do not see any
reason why it should survive
after my ego has been wounded
and my trust betrayed. Trust
is like an inflated balloon, one
prick and it’s gone forever.

SEX TALK

This column is x-rated

The great sex debate

How much sex is too much or
too little?
•Ladies, when men tell you they
feel like they are dying from lack
of sex, it’s partially true. The
choked up emotions and lack
of connection can cause a man
to suffer liver stagnation -Dr.
Robert Chu

Q

UESTION: Is making love every
night bad for my health? My partner
and I are two extremes as far as sex is
concerned. His libido is super high and mine
is super low. I keep wondering how much sex
is too much and how much sex is too little
-Linda, 35, wife and mother.

A

NSWER: (The Chinese perspective)
Sex feels good. And the proper
amount of sex can help maintain your physical and emotional health. But balance is the
key. Both having too little or too much sex can
lead to unhealthy conditions.
According to Dr. Robert Chu, Ph.D., a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, maintaining balance in all life’s activities is important.
Dr. Chu invites you to look at the effects
of too much sex, too little sex, and what the
proper amounts should be, based on your age
and health condition.
How much sex is too much?
The theories of Chinese medicine warn of
the dangers of having too much sex. A person

could become what is called, in Chinese medicine, kidney jing deficient. Jing refers to the
main essence fluids of the body, distilled from
what we eat and drink. Jing is stored in the
kidneys – the batteries of the body. It gives us
energy and healthy internal systems. In fact,
we are born with enough essence to ensure a
lifespan of 120 years. Problem is, we exhaust
it through our poor eating, poor rest, lack of
exercise, unstable emotions, stress, disease
and by having an unhealthy amount of sex!
Signs and symptoms of kidney jing deficiency include a weakening of the bones, loss
of hair, a graying of the face, loosening or
loss of teeth, low back soreness, weakness of
the legs (particularly behind the knees), poor
memory, loss of libido, impotence and a general lack of sexual desire. If you are suffering
from any of these signs and symptoms, perhaps you should consider if too much sex is
killing you, or at least weakening you.
With too much ejaculation, jing is depleted
from the body. As a man ages past his middle
years, the excessive loss of jing (semen) can
have the disastrous effects described above.
The young can engage in frequent copulation, but the middle aged and elderly should
only release semen infrequently.
There is a classic text on Chinese medicine
called Su Nu Jing. It was published almost
2,000 years ago and suggests that to maintain
health, a man should have a certain amount
of ejaculations according to his age and
health. At the age of 20, if a person is in good
health, it is suggested that two ejaculations
a day is reasonable. Moreover, having one
ejaculation every four days is the minimum
necessary to maintain health.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

RELATIONSHIPS

August 11, 2012

33

CHINWE ANNIE AMAECHI 07028684481 chinweamaechi@gmail.com

with infidelity

Love wins

P

This column is x-rated

This column is x-rated

The chart below suggests the guidelines
from that classic text:

Age
20

Good
health
2x Day

Average
Health
1X Day

30

1x Day

40

Every 3
days
Every 5
days
Every 10
days

Every
other day
Every 4
days
Every 10
days
Every 20
days

50
60

Of course, these are rough guidelines and
should not be strictly adhered to. At least
it gives you an idea of the frequency a man
should have sex in order to maintain good
health and balanced emotions. Of course, the
converse is true, that no sex at all can cause
resentment, depression and anxiety... which
could possibly lead to long term disease.
Now, the average 20-year-old male who is
ejaculating three times a day is probably overdoing it. This could possibly affect his grades
(poor memory) or affect his physical stamina
(with weak knees and sore low back).
The 40 year old executive thinking of having that affair with the nice 24 year old intern
might want to consider if he is in good enough
health to survive an extramarital affair. He
could wind up suffering from hair loss, aging
of the face, low back soreness, weak legs, poor
memory, loss of libido, impotence, and lack of
sexual desire that could cost him his career
and his health... not to mention his marriage!
How much sex is too little?
Sex is important for relationships, not just
emotionally, but for the organ systems as
well. Ladies, when men tell you they feel like

they are dying from lack of sex, it’s partially
true. In reality, the choked up emotions and
lack of connection can
cause him to suffer the
Minimum
Chinese Medicine syndrome known as liver
Every 4
qi stagnation.
According to Chidays
nese
medicine theory,
Every 8
the liver functions to
days
move the qi (life energy)
Every 16
freely in the body. Liver
qi stagnation, then, is
days
when there is a pathoEvery 21
genic flow of the cordays
rect qi manifesting in
Every 30
some of the following
signs and symptoms:
days
feeling of distension
in the chest and hypochondrium, sighing, hiccup, melancholy, depression, moodiness, unhappiness and feeling
of a lump in the throat. Often the etiology of
this syndrome includes emotional problems, a
state of anger, frustration or resentment.
If this condition persists, it can grow into
what is called liver fire. The signs and symptoms associated with liver fire include irritability, anger, shouting, ringing in the ears,
temporal headache, bitter taste in the mouth,
dream disturbed sleep, a red face and red eyes.
This is the result of long-standing emotional
states of anger, resentment or frustration.
This can cause problems like high blood pressure, tinnitis, insomnia, migraine headache
and the like.
Good sexual relations are a part of good
health. Overdoing it can be detrimental to
health, and we have found that too little sex
can also have a negative effect on health. My
advice: Be happy and be wise in the ways of
lovemaking.
Culled from www.losethebackpain.com
Next Week…The Western perspective

eople
e seem to be able to
forgive any other offence
in relationships, but infidelity stands as the unpardonable sin. It is easier to accept the
fact that your partner embarked
on some “escapades” before you
came into the picture, than
for you to remain sweethearts
knowing that he/she cheated on
you right under your nose. Infidelity is so heart-breaking that
one cannot imagine that things
can be the same again.
So what do you do when you
find out that your partner has
committed the unpardonable
sin? Do you take a walk for good
or do you find it in your heart
to forgive him/her and continue the relationship on a clean
slate?
Relationships are built and
sustained by love and trust; they
go hand-in-hand. Can one really
remain in love with someone
he/she does not trust? I doubt it.
I need to rest assured that when
we are not together, my partner
is not getting intimate with another woman. I want to be able
to beat my chest, and proudly
say that I am the only woman
in my partner’s life. However,
should I reject the one I love because he erred? Should I throw
away what I held so dear on account of a wrong act? I think
my decision should depend on
the peculiar facts. But one thing
remains a fact: to err is human,
to forgive is divine. Forgiving
infidelity is no child’s play, but
if we cannot forgive the one we
love, how true is our love?
I believe that the people that
have remained our friends the
longest are those we have forgiven the most and vice versa.
Friendship grows stronger after a fight/misunderstanding
when friends choose to forgive
and move on. I can hear you
say that friendship is different;
and that infidelity cannot be
grouped along with other offences which friends commit. I
understand your reasoning, but
the truth is that the true test of
love and commitment is forgiveness. Of course, this should not
give one’s partner the liberty to
err to infinity.
The painful part of infidelity
is the fact that one always has

enough time to decide against
it. All those “suddenly” stories
of infidelity are typical crap!
In the same vein, blaming it on
the devil is arrant nonsense! If
you have indulged in infidelity,
be responsible enough to admit
that you walked into it wilfully,
with your eyes open. Sex is not
a reflex action; it is an act which
takes a number of steps to complete. This is why infidelity is
very difficult to forgive. It takes
the aggrieved partner on a mind
journey with so many puzzles
and questions which are seldom
answered.
The truth is that one act of
infidelity would be easier to
pardon than several acts of
infidelity. Also, forgiveness is
easier when your partner confesses his errors on his own
rather than when he begs for
forgiveness in the event of being caught. In the latter, you
would wonder whether the
“begging” is just the aftermath
of being caught as against the
apology of a repentant sinner.
Also, it seems easier to walk
away from your partner if the
infidelity occurred before marriage, because after you have
vowed to remain together “till
death do us part”, different considerations apply.
People are quick to say that
even the Bible allows Christians to get divorced on account
of infidelity, but what will the
plan be after the divorce? Get
married to another person and
hope he does not cheat on you
or stay single for life? The point
here is not that you should remain with a partner who erred
just because you do not want
to be single for life; not at all! I
just want us to decide whether
infidelity is a permanent relationship-breaker or whether a
couple can move on after it.
There is a huge difference between an unrepentant unfaithful partner and a partner who
is remorseful about infidelity.
In any case, I do not think any
offence is unpardonable, particularly where it is clear that
the erring partner is willing to
ensure that he does no repeat the
error.
So can a couple remain together after infidelity? It is possible.

34

August 11, 2012

Dear Igho

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

TTel:
e 08023924679 (SMS only) ighomit@gmail.com

Having diﬃculties with relationships, family, work or any other aspect of your life? Help is at hand with TOBORE IGHO OVUORIE

Help! Can I still love again?
Dear Igho,
Help! Why does love make me cry?
Friendliness, loving, faithfulness,
care, understanding, kind-heartedness, trust.... All these I gave to my
love, yet he made me cry. I gave him
all my heart, loved him more than
words can say, but still he left me in
a twinkle of an eye. Can I still love
because I have lost my love? What
can I do?
0706—9---5
Dear 0706—9---5,
Though you didn’t state exactly what
led to the break up, I can boldly say a big
yes to your question: you can love again
if you choose to welcome it with your
entire being. To be candid, love doesn’t
make us cry, rather, wrong choices do. We,
especially ladies, have a flair for choosing wrong relationships and staying in
it even when it is oozing. We are fond of
sticking in the kind of relationships that
could only be likened to a faulty, rumbling, moving train heading for destruction.

Should
I forget
about her?
Dear Igho,
My name is Nweke from Anambra State. There is a girl I love so
much and she loves me too. I believe she can never cheat on me
and I have never cheated on her
and will never. But sometimes, she
takes little things into her court
without hearing from me and she
has done this several time. Please
Igho, tell me what to do. Should I
forget about her?
Nweke,
Anambra State.
Dear Nweke,

If you’ll be honest with yourself, you’ll
agree with me that there were obvious red
flags about the guy and the relationship
which you ignored. Just as I will tell my
daughter, my sincere prayers and kind
words to you is: don’t lose hope of loving
again because his exit could be the only
way that you will meet that man who will
treat you as the queen which you are.
We often grieve when jilted by someone who is actually not worthy of us,
thus become oblivious of that which the
Lord has in store for us. Sweet heart, his
leaving could be God’s own way of preventing a great disaster that would have
occurred in the nearest future had he
remained. You ought to be thanking the
lord he is gone because it’s only glaring
that he can’t identify a ruby.
Rather, redefine your person; set standards for yourself, look good, hang out
with friends and have good times. Get involved in activities that add value to you
and will make you come in contact with
people. This way, time will fly fast; your
heart will heal in a laser style without
leaving scars that will call for pity-party.
It’s good to know that you are
both in love and faithful to yourselves but I really don’t understand
what you mean by she takes little
things into her court without hearing from you. I want to assume that
what you mean is that she listens
and believes to hearsays about you.
If that is really what you mean, I
will advise you don’t leave, rather,
have a heart-to-heart talk with her.
Make sure the discussion is held during one of those days both of you are
very happy; possibly, after an interesting outing together. Pour your heart to
her; let her know how much her action
hurts you but do tell her you would appreciate she always confirms from you
whatever she is told before drawing her
conclusions.
Nweke, do make sure you talk to her
with a loving tone of voice, not with an
accusing one. And you must also make
sure you are straightforward in your
dealings with her and other people, lest
the rumour mills continue.

I need a modelling agency
Dear Igho,
I am interested in events ushering and commercials. Please, can
you link me up with any agency?
Thanks.
Anonymous.
Dear Anonymous,
Since you need a link that is as important as your text message indicates,

it would have been better if you had
included at least some features about
you. Since you didn’t indicate how any
agent that reads this piece can get in
touch with you, I’ll advise you browse
through Google using ‘modelling agencies in Nigeria’ as your key words.
From there, you can decide on what
next to do. Wishing you the best in your
pursuit.

honourable and tested man from the
crowd. Spice all these with a sweet and
committed relationship with the Lord.
Do keep in touch and let me know how
you fair.

I can assure you that while enjoying being you and beaming joy, love and happiness, unending queues of suitors will
be on their kneels in before you but remember to be virtuous to pick only one
Dear Igho,
Please, does age matter in a
genuine relationship?
Taiwo,
Lagos.

Does age
matter in a
relationship?

Dear Taiwo,
Ideally, love, not age, should matter because the latter is but a number.
But as Africans, it tends to matter
due to our cultural values. It is generally accepted here that the man must
be older than the woman in a relationship. One of the reasons for this is on
the grounds that women mature faster
than men. Sincerely, I know some couples who are very happy to the extent

that except you are told that the wives
are older than the husbands, you will
never think in that direction. My dear,
if you’re currently in such a situation
in which age difference seems to be the
only issue at stake, I will advise you go
for her.

HIV positive
lady needed for
serious
relationship
Dear Igho,
I’m 28, a graduate and working
class living with HIV. In order not
to spread the virus, I need a fellow
HIV victim for a relationship. She
must be working and devoted.
08101780613
Dear 08101780613,
I commend your thoughtfulness and
being very responsible because were it
to be some other persons, they would
have long commenced a revenge mission

by sleeping with every woman who
comes their way.
However, let me state that you are
living with HIV which is a condition;
a manageable one at that, hence,
you’re not a victim. Please, stop seeing or referring to yourself as HIV
victim. You’re just like every other
person, in short, you’re better off because you know your status. It would
have been worse had you not known,
unfortunately, the latter is the situation
among so many Nigerians.
Don’t worry; I will get across to you
with contacts of several groups of
people living positively notwithstanding the condition. But medically, you
can date and marry someone who is
HIV negative. Just continue to be the
thoughtful person whom you are, the
Lord who considers the heart of men,
not their actions, will abundantly bless
you for your kind-hearted course.

Living
How 20 worshippers were
massacred in Kogi church
35

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 11 , 2012

Some suspected attackers of the Deeper Life Bible Church

For residents of Kogi State, the week has not been a pleasant one. Armed men had stormed
a church at the close of an evening service killing no fewer than 20 members among whom
were children and women. As they were still smarting from the effect of the massacre, a
mosque in the state capital was also attacked by gunmen. Suddenly, the state residents
had had terrorism dropped on their laps.
ADEMU IDAKWO
LOKOJA

W

hen some members of the
Deeper Life Bible Church at
Ottite in Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State woke up on Monday 6 August, 2012, hale and hearty to
pursue their daily activities, hardly did
they know that the day marked their last
on earth. Few hours into a night service
in their church, no fewer than 20 of them
were dead. They were shot to death.
When the news, which was difficult to
believe, filtered into the town, many were
aghast as to what might be responsible
for the gruesome death of the innocent
worshippers.
Minds became agitated until the whole
matter became clear that unidentified
gunmen had broken into the church killing about 20 of them in cold blood and
wounding a number of others.
Worshippers drawn from various
communities in Ottite including the
academia, students from the Federal Col-

Scene of the massacre

lege of Education, Okene as well as some
lecturers from Osara Campus of the state
polytechnic and indigenes had trooped

into the Deeper Life Bible Church on that
fateful day for a service.
The programme which supposed to be

brief dragged into the night due to one
activity or the other.
According to one of the survivors,
Samuel Ayodele who lost his wife and a
son in the carnage, armed men invaded
the church when the programme was being rounded off.
Ayodele on his hospital bed told journalists that immediately the gunmen entered, they shut all the doors and other
out-lets leaving only one entrance where
they stood and started firing at the hapless crowd of worshippers.
Ayodele said the operation that lasted
for over 20 minutes left the pastor and
other many people dead including his
own wife and the child.
He said while he was lying in the pool
of his own blood reeling with pain, he
saw the lifeless body of his wife and as he
attempted to struggle to his feet he discovered that the gunmen were still lurking
around in the dark trying to ensure that
everybody died.
However, Saturday Mirrorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investigation further revealed that more than
eight kids were said to have been killed
by the gunmen while women rated highest among the casualties.
Another victim of the attack, Mr. Lawal Yusuf Itokpa, said the worshippers
were taken by surprise as there was no
prior sign or premonition of any before
the killings.
According to him neither the church
nor its leadership had any friction with
anybody or group of people to warrant
such.
As the people of the state were trying
to reconcile themselves with the reality of the deaths, another tragedy struck
the following day (Tuesday) at Okene.
Shortly after the state governor, Captain
Idris Wada, and the security chiefs in the
state left the town where he held a meeting with the traditional rulers in the area
over the issue and on his way from the
General Hospital where he had visited
the wounded members of the church, the
news of another attack filtered in.
In the fresh attack, two soldiers who
were drafted to guard the Okene Central
Mosque had been gunned down by gunmen who came in a Toyota Hilux Van pretending to be worshippers.
The suspected terrorists wore white
clothes and were chanting Islamic songs
to brow beat the security agents and the
onlookers before they struck.
The suspected terrorists lost one of
their own but the attack aggravated the
already tensed situation in the state.
Even before the governor and the
members of his entourage departed from
Lokoja, the state capital, early in morning
on Tuesday for Ottite, another explosive
device was said to have been discovered
in one of the churches in the town.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

LIVING

36

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘I am not a bad guy’
z
z
z
z

Internet fraudster apologises after conning British bride out of £300 wedding dress
Tricks mother-of-four with fake Paypal email
She spent £105 on posting the dress to Nigeria
He promises to return it, claiming he has a ‘conscience’

S

arah-Jane Green, from Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire,
was left devastated after a Nigerian Yahoo guy conned her out of her
wedding dress. He has since emailed
her to apologise
The devastated mother-of-four has
received an apology from the online
fraudster who conned her out of her
£300 wedding dress. The new bride
had wanted to keep her dress after
marrying fiancee David last month,
but decided to sell it because she
needed money to pay household bills.
After she realised the conman
had used a fake PayPal account and
she had wasted £100 on postage, Mrs
Green emailed him to express her
fury.
The 33-year-old was amazed when
she received an apology from the bad
guy for tricking her into giving away
the handmade dress.
He wrote: “Am sorry, (I) am not a
bad guy. I don’t know why am doing
all this and I want to change, but it’s
difficult to do... who is gonna feed
me?
“I have a conscience for what am

doing and I fear God.
“I know if I don’t stop I will end up
in hell.”
Mrs Green had posted her dress on
the Gumtree website and was then
contacted by the conman who claimed
he wanted to buy it.
He sent a fake Paypal email saying
the money had been deposited and
would be released into Mrs Green’s account once the item had been posted.
It was only after paying more than
£100 to post the dress overseas that the
mother-of-four realised she had been
conned.
The wronged woman says: “I feel
absolutely heartbroken.
“It was such a hard decision to sell
it in the first place and now I have got
no dress and have spent £105 on postage.
In frustration, Mrs Green emailed
the fraudster telling him what she
thought of him.
The conman has said he will return
the dress, although Mrs Green is not
hopeful the pledge is genuine.
•Culled from wwwmailonline.com

The stolen wedding gown

How 20 worshippers were massacred in Kogi church
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35
The situation caused another round of
panic as residents of Lokoja ran helterskelter.
Banks as well as government offices
and business centres in the town were
hurriedly shut as workers took to their
heels.
The governor’s convoy on its way out of
the town ran into the gridlock caused by
the panic over the rumoured explosives.
Many people were injured in the pandemonium that greeted the rumoured
discovered explosives, until the police
authority police authority which later dispatched an anti-bomb squad to the scene
discovered it was just a false alarm raised
by the passersby around the church premises.
Wada who looked visibly troubled after
the renewed hostility that led to the death
of the two soldiers at the central mosque
in Okene immediately addressed the state
in a broadcast.
The governor quickly ordered a dusk to
dawn curfew in Okene while movement of
commercial motorcyclists was restricted
from 6am to 6pm in Lokoja.
The governor described the act as barbaric and uncalled for adding that “it is
very sad that indigenes of the state who
were worshipping in the church were brutally murdered by unknown gunmen and
one cannot truly understand their motive
when this people did not provoke them.”
Others who earlier reacted to the situ-

ation included the senator representing
Kogi Central Senatorial District, Senator
Nurrudeen Abatemi, followed by the state
branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
The senator condemned the act and
called on security agents to intensify their
fight against terrorist activities in the
country.
In a statement signed by his media
aide, Mr. Micheal Jegede, Abatemi urged
ordinary citizens to be more vigilant and
security conscious to help weed out the
perpetrators of evil in their communities.
He commiserated with the families of
those that lost their lives and the Nigeria
Army.
The state branch of CAN in a press conference the third day after the incident,
declared a three-day fasting and prayer to
solicit divine intervention in the security
situation of the country.
Its chairman, Arch-Bishop Emmanuel
Egbunu, said while the attack was not an
isolated one against Christians at worship
in recent times, it was a new and dangerous dimension in Kogi State.
“Our hearts are heavy over the coldblooded murder. This unprovoked attack
against unarmed, innocent citizens right
in the place of worship leaves us in no
doubt that it was a premeditated, calculated and clearly targeted attack”, he said.
He called on Christians to observe
prayer and fasting in their assemblies between Wednesday and Friday of this week
to implore divine intervention in the na-

tion and state.
The CAN chairman reminded the perpetrators of the act that “God will call everyone to account for every unprovoked
bloodshed in times of peace and His justice cannot be escaped however long it
takes”.
The Arch-Bishop called on all Nigerians to turn to God in true repentance
saying sin and wickedness constituted
a reproach that could only lead to more
darkness.
Egbunu urged the people of goodwill to
join in the campaign against ethical and
moral bankruptcy in the country.
He commended the governor and
the security chiefs in the state for their
prompt response to the situation just as he
decried the increasing surge of insecurity
and “the abuse of Christian grace and forbearance.”
As the waiting game continued between
the law enforcement agencies in the state
and the suspected terrorists who have
put the people in the state in a distressed
situation, the police authority in the state
later came to the rescue of the already
traumatised residents of the Lokoja as it
announced the arrest of three in connection with the killings.
The Commissioner of Police in the
state, Alhaji Muhammed Musa Katsina,
who paraded the three suspects before reporters at the police headquarters in Lokoja said his men apprehended the armed
terrorists at Ibilo in Edo State after a tipoff.

Among the three suspects was a middle aged woman, whom the police said
the preliminary investigation revealed
that she was an accessory before the fact.
He disclosed that the woman said to
have assisted the wounded terrorists under the cover of darkness to Ibilo in Edo
State after the exchanged of fire with police during the attack on the Deeper Live
Church.
Katsina said the arrest did not come
very easy as the hoodlums engaged the
policemen in a fierce gun battle until
they fell to the superior power of the law
enforcement agents.
He said many of them escaped with
various degrees of injuries but two were
arrested by the police on the spot.
The commissioner, who also confirmed the arrest of some politicians in
connection to the dastardly acts in the
area, stated that they were using general
approach syndrome to uncover the mystery that surrounded the killings.
He called on medical centres within
the state and Edo not to admit anybody
with bullet wounds to their hospitals as
patients without a written permission
from the police authority as he stated
that some of the hoodlums had run away
with their wounds to different locations
during the raid on their hide out in Ibilo.
However, peace has relatively returned to the trouble zones in the state
as heavily armed security agents were
deployed in Okene to forestall any uprising.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

LIVING

August 11, 2012

37

For some time now, attention
has shifted to Yobe State
in the attacks of the Boko
Haram sect on the Nigerian
State. The once serene
state has now become a
theatre of war. Residents
who had earlier thronged
there for safety now flee in
droves. When did the table
turn against the state?
INUSA NDAHI
MAIDUGURI

D

amaturu, capital of Yobe State,
was the first headquarters of
the Jama’atul Ahlis- Sunnah
Liddaawti –Wal Jihad, otherwise called
Boko Haram. Its leader, the late Mohammed Yusuf, had settled there before he
moved to Maiduguri, the Bornu State
capital with his family and some of his
followers.
Maiduguri, upon the relocation of Yusuff, then became the headquarters of
the sect. And it has been the centre stage
of attacks since the 2009 insurgency
of the sect which claimed the life of its
leader.
Then, Damaturu was devoid of violence. It even served as a safe haven for
thousands of people who fled there at the
onset of the 2009 hostilities between the
government and the sect.
Last year when the members of the
sect clashed with the Joint Task Force
(JTF) operatives in Kaleri Ward of Maiduguri metropolis and over 60 people were
killed, many who felt the Bornu state
capital was no longer safe relocated to
Damaturu. The exodus was said to have
increased the population Damaturu by
10 percent.
Unfortunately, Damauru, is now a
danger zone. That the same Damaturu
would one day become a theatre of war
was unthinkable to most residents but
not to security operatives.
Sources revealed to Saturday Mirror
that, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam had been
severally advised by security agencies
on the possibility of a “spill over effect
of Boko Haram to Damaturu” because
of its proximity to Maiduguri. These, he
was said to have largely ignored.
The first incident which probably
proved right the fears of security agencies was that of November last year.
Barely two days to the Eid –El Kabir celebrations some suspected members of
the sect laid ambush on Damaturu and
Potiskum towns, killing more than 100
people who mostly policemen, while several churches were bombed.
Prior to this attack, the then Borno
State Police Commissioner, Mr. Simeone
Midenda now retired, while parading
some suspects arrested by his men who
revealed their sponsors in Damaturu,
explained that, his command acted immediately and stormed the town. He added that after a search conducted in the
house of the alleged sponsors in Damaturu metropolis, one SMG rifle, (French

Cherubim and Serahpim Church torched by the by the suspected sect.

Yobe:

A state under seige
made) with 104 rounds of live ammunition, empty ammunition chain, two Improvised explosive devices, two pairs of
military uniform, three empty ammunition boxes and three gallons of highly inflammable ABRO liquid were recovered.
He noted that with the arrest and recovery, the Command had averted what
could have been a major disaster that was
to befall Maiduguri residents and mar
peaceful celebration of the Sallah festivities. How wrong, he was later proved
to be. Days after, the coordinated attacks
were launched in Damaturu.
Saturday Mirror learnt that the multiple attacks suspected to have been masterminded by the Islamic sect in Damaturu, came barely after three hours after
some parts of the Joint Task Force, JTF
buildings in Maiduguri were destroyed
by three suicide bombers who detonated
the explosive in their SUV at Pompari bypass around 1:20pm.
Mallam Mohammed Shaibu who witnessed the deadly attacks last year and
had visited Damaturu Government Hospital in search of a missing friend said
he counted 60 bodies in the morgue. But
investigations later revealed that those
who were seriously injured and taken to
various hospitals for treatment could not
survive. Most of them died.

Already, the Boko Haram sect has
claimed responsibility for most of the
coordinated attacks in Damaturu. It has
also vowed to actualise its dream of islamising the Northern sub region of the
country.
In a mainly Christian neighbourhood
called Jerusalem within Damaturu, more
than 15 churches were bombed since
the insurgency started last year to date.
Amongst them were the branches of the
Cherubim and Seraphim Church Movement, Catholic Church in addition to a
police station.
“A police station and a mechanical
workshop of the police were attacked. Six
churches in the area were also bombed,”
said a resident, who does not want his
name in the print, adding: “The whole
city is traumatised.”
Apparently disturbed by the situation,
Governor Gaidam, after he had met with
security chiefs in the state early this year,
banned the use of motorcycles in Damaturu and Postiskum towns.
To serve as palliative measures, his administration procured a hundred tri-cycles also known as Keke NAPEP and buses which were distributed at a subsidised
rate to beneficiaries. All these were done
in order to curtail the security challenges
in the state. They, however, seem not to
have achieved the desired objectives.
Ramadan deadly encounter in Dama-

turu
At the onset of the holy month of Ramadan, the sect was said to have declared
a cease fire in honour of the revered period. Most residents, on hearing this,
heaved a sigh of relief. This, sadly, was
not to last. Hostilities have since been resumed by the sect.
Soldiers and policemen including the
JTF operatives have continued to mount
checkpoints in parts of Damaturu and
Potiskum towns, searching vehicles and
carrying out pat-downs on drivers and
passengers, particularly a day to the commencement of the Ramadan fasting, after
the state government had reviewed the
curfew which is now from 6am to 10pm.
This too was to prove ineffective as the
state is now witnessing a series of bomb
attacks in its two major towns.
Last week Friday, the Emir of Fika
and Chairman of the Yobe State Council of Chiefs, Dr. Muhammadu Abali Ibn
Muhammadu Idrissa, narrowly escaped
death. A suicide bomber had approached
the monarch and detonated an explosive
maerial while the royal father was coming out from a mosque after the Jumat
prayers.
An eyewitness, Salisu Musa, recounted
the event. “During our Friday prayers at
the Central Mosque located in front of
the Emir’s Palace, an unknown person
CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

38

LIVING

August 11, 2012

‘We need government
assistance to pick the
pieces of our lives’

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Eburowanshi

Despite a four-year notice, residents and business owners affected by the demolition of
structures along the planned 12-lane Mile 2 - Badagry Expressway insist that they were
caught unawares. They are crying out for government assistance to relocate and rebuild
their lives
TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE
Enoh

T

he people of Mazamaza and Agboju
communities in Amuwo-Odofin
Local Government Area of Lagos
State have since Monday been experiencing demolition of structures along the
Mile 2-Badagry Expressway.
The affected buildings fell to the efforts
of Lagos State government to construct a
10-lane Mile 2 to Badagry Expressway to
ease the stress that commuters usually
pass through on the road. The demolition
majorly affected many the transportation
companies along the axis, especially those
in Mazamaza. Some residential homes, hotels and firms along the expressway were
also affected.
While the demolition was embraced by
many people, considering that the government gave people about two to four years
notice before carrying out the action, some
were not happy with the action. Supporters of the demolition see it as an inevitable
fallout of the development process in the
state and also commend the state government’s action, especially since many of
the landlords have been adequately compensated before the exercise. Many are,
however, bitter about the demolition and
condemned it in strong terms. They argue
that they were not adequately prepared for
the demolition. This is despite the long notice given to them by the government.
The plight of those who are unprepared for the exercise is aptly illustrated
by the case of the Chairman of Promise
Land Hotel, which occupies a three story
building located in Mazamaza. He collapsed immediately he heard that his hotel
has been demolished.
A resident who pleaded anonymity said, “The demolition affected a lot of
people. Where do they want those people
to go? In fact how do they want many of

A stranded family after the demolition

those whose buildings were demolished to
start? I heard that the owner of Promise
Land Hotel collapsed immediately he heard
about the demolition of his hotel.”
The Manager of Good Shepherd Motors, Mr. Mike Owuntiata, however has a
different view on the demolition. He asserts that the demolition is a welcome development, which will bring development
to people living in the neighbourhood.
His words: “Generally we are happy
with the demolition because it connotes
development and Lagos State has to move
forward. I believe that the construction of
the expressway will enhance our business
the more. I believe the government has also
done its part by settling the owners of the
structures that are being demolished. The
owners of the structures have been adequately settled and that is why there was
no protest against the demolition.
“The demolition affected us in a way
but somehow we are going to adjust and
move our vehicles backward. We are going
to adjust to the situation.”
Another transporter, Mr. Matthias
Nwankwo, believes that the demolition exercise has inflicted more pains on the poor
masses. He therefore called on the govern-

Photos: OLUFEMI AJASA

ment to intervene and provide alternative
places of business and abodes for those
who are affected by the demolition exercise.
His words: “We were informed about
the demolition about four years ago but
many people, especially the transporters
have found it difficult to leave because they
don’t have any other place to go. The demolition that started on Monday caught many
people unaware. The next things is for us is
to leave this place.
“We lost huge amount of money in the
demolition and N4million would not be
enough if I decide to rebuild my office and
also fix many materials that were damaged
during the demolition. Before the demolition, we were only able to pick few things.
Majority of the government policies have
always been affecting the poor. We want
to appeal to the government to look at the
poor masses and give them another place to
stay.”
Mrs. Enoh Joseph, a trader provides
another angle to the demolition debate.
She says, “If care is not taken, the demolition will lead many people to go into crime.
The crime rate will definitely increase. The
government must do something urgently to
provide alternative for the affected people.”

Nwankwo

Onyebuchi

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

LIVING

August 11, 2012

39

TONY ANICHEBE
UYO.

T

he Rapid Response and Anti-Kidnap Squad in Akwa Ibom State on
Thursday rescued the kidnapped
pregnant wife of a former Special Adviser
on Economic Development in Oron Local
Government Area of the State, Hon. Ben
Esin Uwe.
The pregnant woman, Mrs. Agnes Ben
Esin was kidnapped by a notorious six
member kidnapping gang operating in the
area.
The gun duel between men of the rapid response squad and the hoodlums in the
Uya Oron mangrove forest where they had
taken their victim hostage, however, led to
the death of one of the kidnappers, who
has been identified as Bassey alias Carton
from Uya-Oron.
Before his death Bassey was well known
as a kerosene dealer. He is also known to
have gone into gravel excavation business
at the Micava river bank in Uya-Oron. But
unknown to his people, he was also into
this heinous kidnapping crime.
Narrating his family’s ordeal, the husband of the victim Hon. Ben Esin Uwe said
they were awoken at midnight by a loud
bang that sounded like an explosion. Before they could figure where the noise was
coming from, the wall of their bedroom
had caved in and they were faced with a
large hole on the wall directly opposite
their bed. While they were still wondering
what the problem was, somebody pointed
a gun at them through the hole ordering
them to open the main door or risk everyone in the house being killed.
Frightened by the threat, the woman
of the house quickly obeyed so as not to
incur the wrath of the criminals. The assailants, after inflicting series of injuries
on Hon. Ben Uwe, made away with his
pregnant wife, while slamming a ransom
of N15m for her freedom.
While the beleaguered husband was
busy trying to gather money to go and pay
the kidnappers, some concerned friends,
unknown to him, had reported the kidnapping to various security agencies. These
efforts were soon to yield fruit. He got a
call that his wife had been rescued by men
of the anti-kidnapping squad.
The victim tells a horrid story of her
trauma in the forest to which the kidnappers took her. “I was starved and made
to sit in the rain for two days. I also got
several machete cuts despite the fact that
I am heavily pregnant. I thank God, the
men of the anti-kidnapping squad and
men of the Nigeria Police for working assiduously to save my life. If not for God, I
would have been killed by my abductors.
But they were intercepted by men of the
Anti-Kidnapping Squad at the point that
Bassey (the dead gang member) ordered

Leader of the gang...gunned down during the rescue operation

‘Their leader ordered
my execution’

•Pregnant

woman recounts ordeal in the
hands of kidnappers
my execution.”
The Divisional Police Officer, Oron
Command, Mr. Ejike Ochiabutor lauded the
efforts of the anti-kidnapping squad while
calling on the people of the community to
assist the police by always giving useful information to senior police officers who can
manage the information very well, so as to
help the police apprehend criminals.
The DPO stressed that the people can
complement the efforts of the police by belonging to the Police Community Relations
Committee (PCRC) and by forming vigilante groups in every street.
He further called on members of the
public to always give the police useful information that will lead to the arrest of cult
members, adding that it is such information that the police need in order to help
them exterminate miscreants from the
community.
Meanwhile, the Chief Security Officer
to Oron Local Government Area, Hon.

Murphy Esin, whose intelligence network
made the rescue and subsequent arrest of
the criminals possible, said the second kidnapper, who has been arrested in OtiekeOfi
in Okobo Local Government Area where
he took refuge, was found with Hon. Ben
Esin’s handset. The kidnappers took the
handset from him on the night of the operation.
The Security Chief who expressed satisfaction with the feat accomplished by the
security operatives lauded the effort of the
council chairman, Hon. Orman Esin, who
dedicated time and energy to monitor the
rescue operation from the first day of the
incidence.
He also applauded the effort of the youth
leader of Eyoabasi group of villages, Mr.
Asuquo Enwene aka Leville.
He reiterated the need for the government to provide his office with the necessary tools and incentive to further enhance
his team’s movement into every nook and

cranny of Oro creek to fish out the criminals terrorizing Oro, adding that as the
investment hub of the state, Oro nation
should be rid of criminals to encourage
investors.
A top businessman in the area, who
pleaded anonymity, lamented that for
some time now, residents of Oron have
been living in perpetual fear of the unknown, as men of the underworld continue to be on rampage. He described the
rescue of the kidnapped pregnant woman
as a sign of good things to come, as this
was the first time kidnappers had been apprehended in Oro.
Unlike Mrs. Agnes Ben Esin, whose
freedom was secured without payment of
ransom following the intervention of the
anti-kidnapping squad, Mrs. Mary Okon,
the proprietress of Backons Hotel, who
was also kidnapped by another kidnap
gang a night after Mrs. Uwe’s kidnap was
released only after a huge ransom was
paid by her family.

Mob beats baby trafficker to stupor
CHRIS NJOKU
OWERRI

A

notorious child syndicate who
is alleged to be in the business
of kidnapping babies and subsequently selling them to prospective
buyers was beaten to a coma while attempting to kidnap a five-year-old boy in
Owerri on Monday.

The suspect, a 40 year old woman, was
caught in the act when she had already
stolen the baby from where she was kept
by her mother, Mrs. Grace Onyeanu at
Naze, Owerri North Local Government
area of the state.
Although the victim’s name was not
immediately known as she could not coherently speak after being beaten mercilessly, an eyewitness, who is the baby’s

aunt narrated how she actually caught
the woman when she was carrying out
the act.
“I saw the woman with the baby and
immediately alerted the mother who was
said to be busy inside the kitchen cooking.
The mother raised the alarm on seeing
her baby. This attracted her neigbours,
who descended on the kidnapper and beat
her within an inch of her life.

By the time help came for the baby kidnapper, she had been beaten beyond recognition with blood all over her body.
Mrs. Onyeanu after regaining the custody of her child disclosed that she left
the baby in her room while she attended
to other chores in the kitchen.
The state Police Public Relation Officer, Vitalis Onugu, told National Mirror
that he was yet to be briefed on the matter.

40

LIVING

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Yobe: A state under seige
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37
was initially sighted sitting among the
monarch’s entourage and he was asked
to leave the place. But immediately after the prayer, the same person was
sighted again, now rushing towards the
Emir. The Emir’s police orderly quickly
pushed the man aside just as a bomb exploded tearing off the policeman’s arm
and injuring dozens of other people”, he
added.
Sympathisers and worshippers at the
scene were asked to leave the place to allow security operatives made up of policemen and soldiers do their work but
they refused to leave. A soldier, in order
to disperse them, fired into the air. This
led to a peaceful protest against the soldier. Some elders of the Emirate Council, however, intervened to calm the situation.
The victims were all rushed to the
emergency unit of the General Hospital,
Potiskum, for treatment; about 15 people
were seen being dressed while others
went home with minor injuries.
Since then many had fled the town
and tension has risen.
Adamu Abdullahi, an Islamic cleric
condemned the attack saying: “it is very
unfortunate for a suicide bomber to attack his fellow faithful on a worship
ground in the month of Ramadan. This
is a devilish act and God will punish the
perpetrators.”
Security has since been intensified in
the town with thorough checking at military road blocks. One of the major roads
passing in front of the Divisional Police
Office was even blocked to avoid further
attacks on the Police, a source within the
agency revealed.
Condemning the attack on his person,
the Emir of Fika described it as devilish
and not Islamic.
The Emir, at his Potiskum palace,
while speaking to reporters on how to
end the Boko Haram insurgency said:
“We should live in peace without resorting to any violence, as without peace and

Geidam

harmony among the various ethnic and
religious groups in this state, no meaningful development could take place.”
The monarch added that: “What happened on Friday while we were coming
out from the mosque was unfortunate

especially in the holy month of Ramadan
when all are fasting. We thank God that
no life was lost.”
He therefore, appealed to the people
to remain calm and continue to pray fervently until peace and security of lives

and property are restored in the state
and the country at large.
The chairman of the state branch of
the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN), Reverend Garba Idi, also expressed shock over the wanton killings
of his members by suspected members
of the Boko Haram sect, without government doing anything possible to address the situation.
Idi stated this recently at his residence in Jerusalem ward, one of the
Christian dominated areas with different church denominations in Damaturu
that suffered serious attacks and killings in the past.
The cleric noted with dismay the
rate of killing and burning of churches
where many Christians were killed and
injured.
Idi while lamenting the increase in
the number of his members fleeing the
state capital and Potiskum in particular,
said, Christians have lost confidence in
the government and security.
He advised President Goodluck Jonathan to use his position for the immediate deployment of additional security
personnel to guard all churches in the
state, so as to protect them from further
attacks.
The latest attack in Damaturu was on
Sunday. A JTF patrol team at a checkpoint was attacked by a suicide bomber. Six soldiers and two civilians were
killed while nine people were critically
injured.
The attack which started at about
11am sparked off exchange of gun fire
between security agents and suspected members of the sect which lasted
many hours. As the gun battle raged,
many Christians who had earlier gone
to church for the Sunday service were
trapped and some of them were forced
to seek refuge in nearby houses of their
friends until normalcy was returned.
The Boko Haram sect through its
spokesman Abu Qaqa has since claimed
responsibility for the attack.

Female banker crushes LASTMA official to death
SEGUN ADIO

A

n official of the Lagos State
Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Hammed Balogun, 33, was yesterday crushed to
death by a female banker, while on
duty. The sad incident occurred at
Mega City, in Ajah area of the state.
Eyewitnesses told Saturday Mirror that the banker, identified as Mrs.
Johnson, was driving a Green Land
Rover with registration number CY
276 LSD. Mrs. Johnson was reported
to work for one of the new generation
bank operating on Victoria Island, in
Lagos. Mrs. Johnson was reported to
be driving against traffic from Mega
Chicken inward toll Plaza two on Victoria Island, and was intercepted by
three officials of LASTMA led by the

Head of Operations, Quayum Asafa, apparently for traffic violation.
Eye witnesses say in a bid to escape
justice for the offence committed, Mrs.
Johnson, rather than alight from the
car and answer questions being asked
her, instead drove recklessly and in the
process ran over the late Balogun.
The deceased was immediately
rushed to Germaine Hospital where
he later died as a result of injury sustained from the accident. His corpse
has been deposited at the Lagos State
Teaching Hospital, Ikeja for autopsy.
Realizing what she has done, Mrs.
Johnson reportedly left her car and ran
into Ikota Estate, Ajah, while security
men guarding the estate, reportedly
shut the gate behind her.
The situation became riotous as the
security me refused all entries to open
the gate for the mob to descend on Mrs

Johnson. It took the intervention of
the Area Commander, Area J, MR. Felix
Uwamli, who mobilized and called for
backup before access could be gained
into the Estate.
The suspect was finally arrested
and taken to Ajiwe Police station from
where she was transferred to the Criminal Investigative Department, Panti
for further interrogations.
Confirming the incident, the General Manager LASTMA, Engr. Babatunde
Edu lamented the callous killings of
two of his officers within a month and
attributed this to the impatient and indiscipline acts often demonstrated by
reckless drivers in the State. Eng. Edu
recalled that governor Babatunde Raji
Fashola, SAN, had, on Thursday, August 2, 2012, signed into law the New
Road Traffic Law in the state that provides for Road Traffic Administration

to sanitize the Centre of Excellence
of bad driving culture and also maintain law and order on Lagos roads.
Edu regretted that despite the efforts of the State government, the
nonchalant attitude of some motorists had resulted into loss of lives
or maiming of innocent citizens. He
thereby appealed once again to members of the public to desist from attacking the traffic officers and to see
them as dedicated Nigerians who
work under the sun and inside the
rain to ensure that everybody gets
home on time. He said that whenever
the public is aggrieved about LASTMA activities, they should not hesitate to complain at LASTMA Headquarters rather than taking the laws
into their hands and assured all and
sundry of justice and fairness whenever such complaint is made.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

SPORT

August 11, 2012

41

London 2012 and Nigeria’s “Team Diaspora”
Team Nigeria’s performance at the ongoing London 2012 Olympics has been described as the worst since Nigeria began featuring at the quadrennial global showpiece.
Today, it is no longer news that athletes compete at the Olympics
not for money but for national pride.
The number of medals a nation gathers reveals the level of national pride, but in Nigeria, the discovery of oil and the unprecedented
corruption that came with it has gradually led to a massive loss of
national focus, dignity and pride, while our political leaders scramble for our collective resources and plan only for the next election.
Other key areas of national development like sports have been
left to rot as evident in the 2012 Olympics following the inability

Christine Ohuruogu-Great
Britain (400m)

C

hristine Ijeoma Ohuruogu, MBE (born 17
May 1984) is a British
athlete, who specialises in
the 400 metres; the event
for which she is the former
Olympic, World and Commonwealth Champion.
Her victory in the Beijing
Games was the 50th gold
medal for Great Britain in
athletics at Olympic Games.
She also won the 400

metres at the 2007 World
Championships and a silver
medal at the 2012 Olympics
in London.
Ohuruogu’s personal best
time of 49.61s ranks her
third amongst British women 400 m runners, behind
Kathy Cook and Katharine
Merry. She is coached by
Lloyd Cowan and represented Team GB at the
London 2012 Olympics.

of our athletes to garner medals.
Yet, those in government are never worried over the fact that a
country with a population of over 160 million inhabitants and the
6th largest producer of oil in the world did not produce a single
medal in London.
To say the least, our athletes did their personal best for a country that cared less for their preparations, while the wiser ones
among them have moved on to countries with national dignity
and value to win laurels for them.
Below is a list of athletes of Nigerian descent who competed
for other nations at the London 2012 Olympics. as compiled by
ANDREW EKEJIUBA.

Ezinne Okparaebo – Norway (100m)

E

zinne Okparaebo is a
Nigerian-born athlete who
has been living in Norway since
she was nine and competes in
track and field internationally for
the European country. She was
born in 1988, and hails from Imo
State.
She has represented Norway
at the 2008 Summer Olympics in
Beijing in the 100 metres where
she placed second in her heat
with a time of 11.32 seconds
and also qualified for the second
round, but failed to make it to the
semis.
At the ongoing London 2012
Olympics, Okparaebo finished
fourth in the Heats of the women’s 100m with another national
record of 11.14 secs. She further
improved on her time to 11.10
secs in the semi-finals, but failed
to advance to the final.

Marilyn Okoro-Great
Britain (800m)

M

arilyn Chinwenwa Okoro (born 23
September 1984 in London) is a British
athlete of Igbo ancestry.
She was part of the British athletics team
at the London 2012 Olympics and it could
be remembered that she represented Great
Britain at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008
and finished sixth (1:59.53) in the semifinals.

Okparaebo

Danielle Alakija – Fiji Islands (400m)

D
Ohuruogu

Phillips Olaosebikan Idowu-Great
Britain (Triple jump)

P

hillips Olaosebikan
Idowu, (MBE) is a British
triple jumper and a thorough Nigerian, who was
born into the family of Late
Chief Nathaniel Idowu.
The 2008 World Indoor
champion and reigning
2010 EAA European Champion represented Great Britain at the ongoing London
Olympic Games.
Idowu is a member of the
London-based Belgrave
Harriers Athletics Club and
despite his successes he

Idowu

has at times been accused
of inconsistency and of
failing to fulfil his potential,
including his disappointing
failure at the London Olympics 2012.
Prior to the Olympics,
Idowu was battling for fitness and had not competed
competitively for near on 3
months as he struggled and
couldn’t make it past the
qualifying round of the triple
jump event; thus ending
his hopes of a medal at the
London Olympics 2012.

anielle Alakija is a Britishborn Fijian athlete of Nigerian descent and she has been
described as the youngest
athlete taking part at the ongoing
Olympic Games in London.
The 16-year old trains and
schools in the United States and
was part of the silver-medal winning 4x400m relay team at the
2011 Pacific Games.
Born in London to a mother
from Nigeria and a father who
has roots in Brazil and England,
she has spent most of her life in
Fiji. The young athlete competed
in the women’s 400m though she
didn’t make it beyond the heats
in the 400m where she finished
Alakija
with a time of 56.77 seconds.

Eniola Aluko – Great Britain (Football)

E

niola Aluko is the younger sister of Sone Aluko who played
for Nigeria’s U-20 football team
during the 2009 FIFA World Cup
in Egypt, but has chosen to pitch
her tent with Great Britain.
She was born in Lagos in 1987,
but her parents moved to Birmingham when she was one-year-old.
The First Class Law graduate from
Brunel University represented
England at the U-17 and U-19
national levels and currently a
member of Great Britain’s female
national football team at the ongoing London Olympic Games.
The team won their Group E
matches against New Zealand and
Cameroon and also beat favourites
Brazil 1-0, but was sent packing from
the competition in the quarterfinals as
they were defeated 2-0 by Canada.

We never
planned to win
Olympic medals
–Popoola
Secretary-General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee
(NOC), Mr. Tunde Popoola, is a former national hockey team player and has been in the administration
of sports for a while. He spoke with our Sport Editor,
EVEREST ONYEWUCHI, in London at the ongoing
Olympic Games, where he disclosed why Team Nigeria has performed miserably.

H

ow is the 30th Olympiad going
so far?
Well, it’s been a very impressive
one, considering that Britain wanted to live
up to its name when it comes to timing,
keeping to record and keeping to the rules
and guidelines. It’s been wonderful right
from the opening ceremony, which I want to
say is perfect, though no human endeavour
is perfect, in terms of organisation. After
that, all the events were on time to schedule
– the security, transportation, name it. You
can’t beat it; so far I think it is well. You can
compare it with Beijing 2008, if not technology that was over-played in China. This
is one of the best organised competitions
with people attending the events.
The opening of the athletics events was
extremely wonderful; it can’t be described.
It has made a good show of this Olympics. I
think it has set standards and a benchmark
for others to follow.
How do you assess the atmosphere in
the Games Village, generally?
It’s all part of the package, very cool, serene. Everybody goes about his or her business. Talking about the cafeteria and cuisine available, the range of foods offered,
nobody can honestly complain about that.
The rooms are good, beddings alright. Let
me say it, it’s all beautiful.
Let’s come home now, how do you
rate Nigeria’s preparations for this
London 2012 Olympics, with regards to
the NOC relationship with the NSC?
I have been saying it and I will continue
to say it; our preparations are not the best.
We leave it till the last minute and this one
is not much of an exception, but it’s just a
little better than it used to be. It’s still the
same thing and I think that by the end of
this London Olympics, we should have
learnt our lessons. And we must start planning from the day this one ends for the next
one.
Some countries prepare four and eight
years. Some prepare 12 years ahead. But
after here, we will start thinking that next

Olympics in Brazil is four years away, but
that’s not the way to go. You have to programme people. I give you one example,
canoeing. Our athlete we felt would do
well, but he failed. For me, he did his best
despite the penalty. For anybody going into
canoeing and swimming that is natural to
a whole lot of Nigerians, we do not plan to
win medals in just four years. It has to take
up to 12 years planning.
The question I’m asking is, ‘which threeyear-old, four-year-olds do we have to win
medals in the next two Olympics?’ We had
a wildcard in swimming this year, but we
couldn’t come and I think it was better we
didn’t bother to fill it. Look at the records
being broken in swimming here; it would
have been outright disgrace from Day One
in the pool.
What we’re saying is that we should plan
ahead. The events we’re good in, we should
continue to make them. Look at our athletics this time; we didn’t do much with the
men because our programme was not right.
It’s not that we don’t have the athletes, we
have in some areas. It’s like in table tennis,
where they’re all old and no succession.
The next Olympics we would be there, but
I’ve not seen those who will represent us
in table tennis. We need eight years to revive table tennis, but I have not seen those
who will do it. Sincerely, our preparations
are not what I would say were aimed at
winning medals based on the quantum of
athletes we have in Nigeria. It’s not good
enough.
Let’s take water polo for example, if
we can’t do normal swimming, what
is in water polo that Nigeria can’t participate and compete in? This is what
we do in our streams and rivers in our
villages, with people throwing balls to
play...
I think the aspect of facility management and facility maintenance is zero. For
now, it’s mainly a government issue, but
I think the private sector has a whole lot
to do in this direction. There are so many
ways they can assist government in this

wise. Clubs should be able to build their
swimming pools and maintain them. For
now, those of the Federal Government are
a shame; look at the National Stadiums in
Lagos and Abuja, these are serious international facilities that are rotting away.
What then is our problem, and
where do we get the athletes to train on
standard facilities?
No, it’s a complete package, a complete
programme. As we speak, people are thinking of the 16-year-old Chinese girl that
broke swimming record. I know the Chinese will present another prodigy in Rio
de Janeiro. They have focus and we need to
have a lot of re-orientation about the way
to run our sports in Nigeria. Most of these
things are not about money; it’s about
dedication, about showing direction, about
getting the right people as well. We should
stop playing politics with sports. That’s one
area we need to look into. If you’re not competent you should not be appointed.
People may lampoon me, but I don’t
care, we should stop politicising our fed-

Popoola

erations’ elections. Somebody loses in
athletics; he moves over to gymnastics or
goes elsewhere to contest. Where is the passion, where is the commitment? People just
want to belong, get in for personal interest.
I was a hockey player; I can’t go into another sport to contest its leadership. Look
at basketball; it is in this Olympics because
the NBBF president is so committed. Take
AFN president, Solomon Ogba, he is very,
very committed. In these people, you see
passion and commitment for the sports
they manage. You must be known within
your own community. That is part of the
problem because leadership is key to success. It’s unfortunate that we’re not winning medals, whereas we have more innate
physical attributes than those winning.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

SPORT

August 11, 2012

43

XXXTH OLYMPIC SUMMER GAMES

London 2012

EVEREST ONYEWUCHI
REPORTING

July 27 - August 12, 2012

TIT BITS

I don’t respect Carl Lewis – Bolt
N
ewly-crowned
“g reatest-ever
sprinter”
Usain
Bolt has said he had lost
all respect for Carl Lewis,
the man whose on-track
exploits he has surpassed
with his unique Olympic
double-double, but who
still leads the way in selfregard.
American Lewis is the
only other man to win two
Olympic 100m gold medals,
the second coming in 1988
when he was promoted
from second place after
the disqualification of Ben
Johnson.

He won the 200m in 1984,
but managed only silver
four years later. He did,
however, have a remarkable run of success in the
long jump, winning that
event in four successive
Games for a tally of nine
gold medals in all.
In the wake of Bolt’s triple-gold record success in
Beijing, Lewis was quick
to point the finger of suspicion at him and Jamaica in
general.
“I think there are some
issues. Countries like
Jamaica do not have a
random (drugs testing)

program, so they can go
months without being tested. I’m not saying anyone
is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level
playing field,” Lewis said.
He added, “I’m not saying they’ve done anything
for certain. I don’t know.
But how dare anybody
feel that there shouldn’t be
scrutiny, especially in our
sport?”
He has continued to fire
broadsides ever since but
Bolt, now with his sprinting record unquestionably
superior, hit back.
“I’m going to say some-

Rudisha delighted with
new world record

K

enya’s David Rudisha capped four
years of dominance
in the 800 metres by storming to gold in a world record
time with a dazzling run at
the London Olympics.
As the 80,000 crowd
roared him on, the world
champion scorched around
the Olympic Stadium in
one minute 40.91secs to
beat the mark of 1.41.01secs
he set two years ago in Italy.

“I had no doubt about
winning, but I was waiting for perfect conditions
to break the record. When
I woke up this morning, I
saw the weather was great
and I knew I could do something special.
“I am happy. I’ve waited
for this moment for a long
time. To come here and
set a new world record is
unbelievable,” the 23-yearold said.

Rudisha

London 2012 inspires future
rugby Olympians

I

nternational
Rugby
Board Chairman Bernard Lapasset is confident that the success of
the London 2012 Olympic
Games will inspire Rugby
Sevens players hoping to
participate in the world’s
largest sporting event in
four years’ time.
Rugby Sevens will make
its Games debut at Rio 2016
and Lapasset, in London
for International Olympic
Committee (IOC) planning
and preparation meetings
and an event to mark the

four-year countdown to
Rio, believes that there is already palpable excitement
within the global rugby
family.
“London is the first
Olympic Games since the
IOC voted Rugby Sevens
onto the summer programme. It is therefore a
significant milestone for the
IRB and our players around
the world as we continue to
prepare for our Games debut in Rio de Janeiro.
“In four years’ time the
world’s best men’s and

women’s Sevens players
will compete on the biggest sporting stage and rub
shoulders with the world’s
top athletes from other disciplines in the Olympic Village. It is incredibly exciting
and for aspiring Olympian
rugby players it will be the
realisation of a dream.
“The players and coaches are telling me that they
can’t wait, that they are
proud and honoured by the
opportunity they have to
showcase our sport to the
world,” Lapasset said.

thing controversial right
now, Carl Lewis - I have no
respect for him,” Bolt said,
having cited 1936 quadruple champion Jesse Owens
as a man he held in the
highest regard.
“The things he (Lewis)
says about the track athletes, it’s really downgrading for another athlete to
be saying something like
that about other athletes.
So, for me, I’ve lost all respect for him, all respect,”
the
Jamaican
double
champion, said.

Dog cheers,
as owner
wins boxing
gold

Swimming: Mellouli triumphs
in 10km Marathon

T

unisia’s Oussama Mellouli won the men’s 10km
marathon gold in the open
water of the Serpentine
yesterday. Mellouli, who took
bronze in the 1500m Free-

style in the pool last week,
was followed home by the
German Thomas Lurz who
took silver, while the bronze
medallist was Richard Weinberger of Canada.

Oussama Mellouli celebrates with his gold medal.

Montenegro aiming for
handball final upset

M

ontenegro women’s
handball team have created history by guaranteeing
their country’s first ever Olympic medal and they will be
gunning for gold when they
meet Norway in today’s final.

The eastern Europeans were
tipped as dark horses in the
competition at the start of the
Games but not expected to
challenge in the gold medal
match ahead of the likes of
France, Spain and Russia.

B

ritish
gold-medal
winners love their
dogs and want them
to share the Olympic spirit.
Days after Andy Murray
festooned his two border terriers, Maggie May and Rusty,
with his gold and silver medals, it was learnt Thursday
that British female boxer,
Nicola Adams, paid for her
dog, Dexter, to watch her
Olympic bouts while he was
boarded at a kennel.
The Morley Observer
and Advertiser, reports
that Adams paid a small
fee so that the Doberman
would be able to view her
event. The manager at MyPetShop said that while it’s
not uncommon for owners
to pay for little amenities
for their dog, it’s never been
quite like this.
“This will certainly be
a first where the dog can
watch their owner - especially in the Olympics - so I’m
sure Dexter will be excited,”
Sheli Dobbie told the paper.
Adams won her flyweight event on Thursday,
becoming the first woman
to ever win a gold medal in
the new Olympic sport.

Jovanka Radicevic celebrates following their victory over Spain.

LONDON 2012 MEDALS TABLE
Country

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

1. United States of America

39

25

26

90

2. People’s Rep. of China

37

24

19

80

3. Great Britain

25

15

14

54

4. Russian Federation

12

21

24

57

5. Republic of Korea

12

7

6

25

6. Germany

10

17

11

38

7. France

8

9

12

29

8. Hungary

8

4

3

15

9. Australia

7

13

10

30

10. Italy

7

6

6

19

11. Kazakhstan

6

0

3

9

12. Japan

5

14

14

33

13. Netherlands

5

5

7

17

14. Islamic Rep. of Iran

4

4

1

9

15. New Zealand

4

2

5

11

16. People’s Rep. of Korea

4

0

1

5

17. Belarus

3

3

4

10

18. Cuba

3

3

3

9

18. Jamaica

3

3

3

9

20. Ukraine

3

1

6

10

44

LEISURE

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

45

August 11, 2012

Tapeworm
T

apeworm infection is caused
by ingesting food or water contaminated with tapeworm eggs
or larvae. If you ingest certain tapeworm eggs, they can migrate outside
your intestines and form larval cysts
in body tissues and organs (invasive
infection). If you ingest tapeworm larvae, however, they develop into adult
tapeworms in your intestines (intestinal infection).
An adult tapeworm consists of a
head, neck and chain of segments
called proglottids. When you have an
intestinal tapeworm infection, the
tapeworm head adheres to the intestine wall, and the proglottids grow
and produce eggs. Adult tapeworms
can live for up to 20 years in a host.
Intestinal tapeworm infections are
usually mild, but invasive larval infections can cause serious complications.

Symptoms
Many people with intestinal tapeworm infection have no symptoms. If
you do feel the effects, your symptoms
will depend on the type of tapeworm
you have and its location. Invasive
tapeworm infection symptoms vary
depending on where the larvae have
migrated.

Causes
A tapeworm infection starts after
ingestion of tapeworm eggs or larvae.
 Ingestion of eggs. If you eat food
or drink water contaminated with faeces
from a person or animal with tapeworm,
you ingest microscopic tapeworm eggs.
For example, a pig infected with tapeworm will pass tapeworm eggs in its
faeces, which gets into the soil. If this
same soil comes in contact with a food or
water source, it becomes contaminated.
You can then be infected when you eat
or drink something from the contaminated source. Once inside your intestines, the eggs develop into larvae. At
this stage, the larvae become mobile. If
they migrate out of your intestines, they

form cysts in other tissues, such as your
lungs, central nervous system or liver.
 Ingestion of larvae cysts in meat
or muscle tissue. When an animal has a
tapeworm infection, it has tapeworm larvae in its muscle tissue. If you eat raw or
undercooked meat from an infected animal, you ingest the larvae, which then
develop into adult tapeworms in your
intestines. Adult tapeworms can measure up to 50 feet (15.2 meters) long and
can survive as long as 20 years in a host.
Some tapeworms attach themselves to
the walls of the intestines, where they
cause irritation or mild inflammation,
while others may pass through to your
stool and exit your body.

Risk factors
Factors that may put you at greater
risk of tapeworm infection include:
 Poor hygiene. Infrequent washing
and bathing, with poor sanitation practices increases the risk of accidental
transfer of contaminated matter to your
mouth.
 Exposure to livestock. This is especially problematic in areas where human and animal faeces are not disposed
of properly.

 Eating raw or undercooked meats.
Improper cooking may fail to kill tapeworm eggs and larvae contained in contaminated pork or beef.
 Living in endemic areas. In certain parts of the world, exposure to tapeworm eggs is more likely.

Complications
Intestinal tapeworm infections
usually aren’t complicated. The complications that do sometimes develop
include:
 Digestive blockage. If tapeworms
grow large enough, they can block your
appendix, leading to infection (appendicitis); your bile ducts, which carry bile
from your liver and gallbladder to your
intestine; or your pancreatic duct, which
carries digestive fluids from your pancreas to your intestine.
 Brain and central nervous system
impairment. Called neurocysticercosis,
this dangerous complication of invasive
pork tapeworm infection can result in
headaches and visual impairment, as
well as seizures, meningitis, hydrocephalus or dementia. Death can occur in severe cases of infection.
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

LETTER

‘His sperm count is low’
Dear Doctor,
I am 25 years old and in love with a
man of 31. We have been courting for
three years and plan to marry soon
but I’ve never missed my period. My
fiancé once visited a gynaecologist
and was told, after some tests, that
his sperm count was low. He was given some antibiotics. We have since
then been expecting a change in the
situation but nothing has happened
yet. He once confided in me that only
three out of his former numerous
girlfriends had ever told him they
missed their periods and they were

those he didn’t quite trust and was
not deeply involved with.
Since he was once a flirt, I’m beginning to think that he must have
had gonorrhea which was not fully
treated. He often squeezes his face as
if he is in pain each time he wants to
ejaculate while we are making love.
Please Doctor, I will like you to tell
me if there is something wrong with
him and what can we do to solve the
problem. I’m really in love with him
and I’m bothered about the problem.
I haven’t been to a specialist myself
because I don’t think there is anything wrong with me. Although I

have done D&C three times for
someone else, it was done by
a specialist and there was no
problem afterwards.
Mirror Doctor replies:
The information contained in your letter is quite insufficient for a meaningful
appraisal of the problems. To be able to
advise you on your fiancé, I need to have a
full picture of the seminal fluid analysis.
I need to know the following facts:
Sperm Volume
Time sample was produced.
Time sample was examined.
Count Motility
General morphology
Culture and sensitivity
These results will enable me to have a

complete picture of the area of problem. It
might be at the level of the testes, around
or inside the tubes which conducts sperm
to the penis for ejaculation.
The thought of a gonorrhea infection
is not out of place as a causation of male
infertility (Low sperm count). You need
to get your partner thoroughly investigated before you commit yourself to a
marriage. The problem may not be real
now but later on, you will have the pains
of having to be blamed for his problems.
Of course, your choice will be to love your
partner and forget about his problem of
low sperm count. However, I believe this
will not be a realistic sacrifice for love.
Get him to see an urologist (a specialist
doctor that deals with such problems). I
reckon he will derive positive benefit in
the form of improving his deposits.

46

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Roofing sheet business has no season’
FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON

A

re you an investor looking
for what to invest your money in that could give you
returns without much challenge
especially as it relates with power
supply? Then you may give the
roofing sheet business a thought
admonished Moroof Olanrewaju
the managing director of Bolmark
Nigeria Enterprises located in the
Ikeja area of Lagos who has been
into the business of roofing sheets
distribution for over 20 years.
According to this Yoruba entrepreneur, the business of roofing
sheet is quite an interesting and
lucrative one. “It is a business that
you could gradually build into an
empire if you properly plan the
business and make a good account
of it,” he noted.
“In the last 20 years that I have
been into the business, it had improved sporadically and there
have been new developments in
the area of product quality. I have
been dealing in Nigerite products,
which quite a lot of people consider
the best in Nigeria because of its
varied types of sizes and quality,”
stated Olanrewaju.
Although the business is quite
capital intensive, it is a business
that is worth investing in, says
Olanrewaju. It is not a business
you invest in and have to wait for
‘an eternity’ to make returns on
it as long as you are making sales.
You start getting returns on your
investment immediately sales are
made. The bottom line is to make

ANOTHER UNIQUE
THING ABOUT THIS
NATURE OF BUSINESS
IS THE FACT THAT

PRIMARILY, ANYONE
INTO IT IS NOT TO
BOTHER ABOUT
POWER BECAUSE IT
HAS NOTHING TO DO

WITH POWER USAGE.

ALL YOU NEED IS

SPACE TO SELL AND
THE PATRONAGE
sales, he added.
He further disclosed to Saturday
Mirror how he started his business 20
years ago with a capital of N200, 000
and today the business is worth millions. However, Olanrewaju noted that
to commence the business today, one
would need between N1 million and
N1.5 million because “you have to be
able to buy a lorry of roofing sheets of
different types and sizes and then you
will also think of the space where you
will stay to make the sales. You will
need to rent a shop or a space where
people will come to, to make patronage.”
Another unique thing to this nature
of business is the fact that primarily,
anyone into it is not to bother about
power because it has nothing to do with
power usage. All you need is your space

Olanrewaju

to sell and the patronage. You don’t
have to use power for anything unless you want to enjoy the comfort of
your inner office, for example the use
of fan or air conditioner.
However, Olanrewaju warned that
what could create a setback in the
business is not getting the right persons to work with in area of work assistants.
“You need to get a person that is
passionate about what you do and
who will handle the product with
care and diligence. This is important
because some assistants who are not
committed may become careless and

overload a customer or under load
them when they come for patronage and such deficit bounces back
to the business owner. Care is also
needed when carrying the sheets
because they are made of cement
and, if not carefully carried, could
brake and that will become a shortage at the end of the day. Apart
from that, the business is almost
a risk-free one,” enthused Olanrewaju.
Another important factor, according to the merchant, is also being nice and polite to customers as
they come to make them come back
to you the next time.
Olanrewaju also warned that it
is very essential for any would-beinvestor to first of all learn all the
intricacies of the business from
people who have been in the business for a while before going into
it to ensure further success of the
business.
“You know that every business
has its own intricacies and if you
do not formally learn from experienced people, you may get stuck
in between or get defrauded at the
end of it, so it is very vital to get
training and proper tutorials from
those who have been in that line for
a while,” he counselled.
Talking about the peak period
of the business, Olanrewaju noted
that business comes in at any time
but it is more when the festive periods are approaching, which is
between the months of September and December when people
will want to work on one building
project or the other. This period is
around the corner now,” he says.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

47

August 11, 2012

Making money from instant noodles production

I

ntroduction
Nigeria has a very big market,
with estimated population of over
160 million people as at the end of 2011.
This figure will continue to rise, creating further increase in consumption.
Therefore, the market for any daily consumable products such as Instant noodles will not be a problem. The Nigerian
products are acceptable in the international market if well processed according to international standards.
The major challenge for now is power supply, which has not been regular.
However, with the efforts of the government and present reforms by President
Goodluck Jonathan in the power sector,
improvement is expected in the year
2013.
The project
An instant noodle is a food item consumed on daily basis by many homes
in both urban and rural areas. It is one
of the affordable foods in the market today with increase in the price of bread.
Due to rapid increase in demand for the
product, any investor into this area with
well prepared feasibility studies/business plan will be successful.
It is a meal that can be prepared just
in a few minutes. The high food demand,
due principally to the increasing population and urbanization, the severe shortage of time on the part of bachelors,
spinsters and working mothers, and the
change in feeding habits and way of life
have all combined to make the eating of
instant noodles very popular.
Instant noodles have great repeat
sales tendencies and the transportation
cost per naira value of the product is
low. So apart from producing to satisfy
local demand, one can also embark on
export to earn foreign exchange. Cur-

rently in Nigeria, there are still a few
producers, so there is more than enough
room for new entrants to make a decent
living.
Raw materials
The major raw material is wheat powder having ash content of between 0.5
and 0.4%. Others are carbonic salt, common salt and lard (oil). Carbonic salt water gives the noodles special stickiness,
elasticity, smoothness and taste while
lard is for frying. Common slat helps
make the noodles homogeneous, regulates the stickiness and adds salty test.
Other flavoring or seasoning additives include onion powder, MSG, Hydrolised vegetable protein (preferably
soybean-based), chili powder, phosphoric acid salt, starch powder, etc. The noodles can be fortified by adding industryapproved quantities of such vitamins
as B and D. The flavors (called soup)
are usually packed separately in small
cellophane before being enclosed in the
packaged fried noodles.
For packing, one needs poly-cellophane (300 mm x 190 mm), carton boxes
(which may contain about 30 pieces) and
packing tape. One can see that virtually
all the raw materials required can be obtained locally.
Equipment
The machinery and equipment needed are noodles-making machine, measuring and cutting equipment, fryer,
cooling equipment, accessories including steam boiler, edible and heavy oil
tanks, kneader base, chimney and furnace materials. A standby generator of
appropriate capacity is a must to ensure
power supply.
Production process
Nine distinct processes are involved
in the production of noodles and these

are briefly described here. Wheat powder and additives are dissolved in carbonic salt solution for about 10 to 15
minutes making sure that the quantity
of water and salt is such that the required viscosity is maintained as this is
influenced by atmospheric temperature.
The noodles are now cut and the
weight calculated bearing in mind the
dough thickness, weight and the conditions under which the dough was
made. The cut-measured noodles are
now steamed. During this process, the
protein in the dough changes to alphaprotein because of heat. This makes
the dough strips stickier and smoother
in just one minute and under the steam
pressure of 1.5-2.5kg/cm3.
On getting out of the cut machine, the
noodles curl and are now put in cases in
order to prevent deformation during
frying. The cased noodles are fried. This
process eliminates moisture, secures
a permanent form for the noodles and
promotes the process of alphanisation.
This takes 1 to 1.5 minutes at a temperature of 140oC to 150oC.
The fried noodles are cooled by air
in order to solidify the lard (oil) used in
frying, which is now fixed on the surface of the strip noodles. After this, they
are packaged in poly-cellophane bags
measuring 300cm x 190cm before being
packed in carton boxes containing 30
packs of noodles. The cartons are cellotaped and the instant noodles are ready
for the market after they have been inspected as to form, quality, colour and
weight.
Project cost
It is estimated that the sum of N38
million will be adequate to set up the
project. This comprises of

Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;000
Pre-investment 750
expenses
Land and
9,900
buildings
Machinery and 13,782
equipment
Utilities
7,250
(transformer,
vehicles,
gensets etc)
Working
3,500
capital
Contingency
2,388
Total
37, 570
Implementation
Implementing this project will take
the following steps: Commissioning for
the preparation of a comprehensive
feasibility study, acquisition and development of the project site, erection
of the factory and buildings, sourcing
for funds, purchasing project vehicles,
recruitment and training the relevant
staff, purchasing and installing the machinery, equipment and necessary utilities, test running and commissioning of
the factory for commercial operation.
Food processing is the industry of
the future, particularly in a country
where the relevant raw materials are
abundant. This project is highly recommended to serious industrialists as it
will attract financing from the industrial development banks for its establishment because of its profitability, innovativeness, value added advantages,
future prospects and overall effects in
the development of the economy.
Courtesy: Uba Godwin, 08034494437,
E-mail: ubagodwin@yahoo.com

48

People

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 11, 2012

Bayo Ibitayo: Economist
turned educationist
FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON

B

ayo Ibitayo, holds a first degree in
Economics and a master’s degree
in International Relations, but he
has chosen helping others to secure their
future in education as his career.
This is probably born out of the current
educational pursuit among the Nigerian
affluent. It is common knowledge now that
for the nation’s affluent, studying abroad is
fast becoming a fad especially so because
of the decline in the country’s educational
system as well as various interruptions in
its calendar. Now, a lot of people who have
the wherewithal seek overseas education.
For over eight years Ibitayo, who is
the Managing Director of Franice-Forte
and Associates, has assisted several students in gaining admission into overseas’
schools of their choice that are also suitable for their circumstance.
According to Ibitayo, it is not just enough
to say one wants to study in the Americas
or Europe when one’s financial capacity
is in doubt. Overseas study, he stressed, is
expensive, however, if properly planned;

someone could manage their resources
and see themselves through school.
“Some would come to tell me that they
want to study in America or Europe. The
first questions I ask them are: how financially enabled are you, who is sponsoring
you, are your parents able and ready to give
you the support or are you self sponsored?
I also give them the many options available
at different parts of the world and help
them in choosing one that best suits their
circumstance,” Ibitayo explained.
He further disclosed that the decline in
the educational sector is one of the propelling factors that make overseas study a
choice for many.
“A lot of these students who come to us
seeking admission have tried severally to
secure admission in Nigerian schools with
little or no positive results. Thus for such
who could afford studying abroad, they
quickly opt for it” he added.
Another factor for the choice according
to Ibitayo is that admissions in Nigeria are
only done once in a year while in many of
the schools abroad, there are two or three
admissions within the same period and
so more students are admitted into their

schools”
On the challenges of being a recruitment agent, Ibitayo noted that there is no
structure yet on ground for school recruitment agencies in Nigeria.
“I belong to the International Association and Conference on Foreign Education
which has its headquarters in Germany.
We have conferences on a yearly basis at
different locations in the world. I am just
trying to get some of my contemporaries to
come together so we can form an association for the Nigerian body so that it will be
easy to tell who is a fake agent and who is
not. This is very important because some
are coming in with the mindset of duping
people and not getting anything done for
them” he said.
For Ibitayo, fulfilment is when he looks
back to the numerous people he has assisted in securing admission into various
schools abroad and who are now graduates
and doing well in the society.
“I have a lot of my students who are already graduates and are doing really well
in the society today and each time I see
them or get calls from them, I feel much
fulfilled.”

Owolabi Salis: Grassroots’ advocate
OSEYIZA OOGBODO

C

hief Owolabi Salis is a man with a
lot on his mind and he doesn’t mince
words in saying them. A lawyer,
chartered accountant and politician, it is
not surprising that the subject dearest to
his heart is Nigeria’s misfortunes.
“The only way you can measure how successful a government is, is by how well it
has been able to bridge the divide between
the rich and the poor,” he says emphatically.
“That’s the only yardstick for the measurement.”
A former Lagos State governorship candidate, he actually points an accusing finger. “I’m a grassroots advocate, I work and
associate with the grassroots very closely so
I know the problems they have. The major
problem is that lots of people are working
against the interests of the poor people.”
Salis is a prominent member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Candidly, he said, “Government’s insensitivity doesn’t really affect the rich who
can afford private healthcare, education,
suitable accommodation, etc, but the poor
people need the government’s support and
the government is failing them.”

Considering his voluble attack on the opposition, it is only natural to ask him if he
feels his own party (PDP) is doing the right
thing.
“If I say PDP is doing well, I’ll be lying. Some of their governors, like those
of Cross River and Akwa Ibom, are doing
very well and others are not. Though PDP
has not met expectations, they are still better than ACN.”
Buttressing his point, he said the fact
that PDP’s national chairman’s son is in
hot soup over the ongoing fuel subsidy
probe is enough indication that PDP is better than ACN.
“PDP is the only party whose members
have to account for their actions. That is
because we challenge one another. We are
a conglomerate of super personalities so
we challenge one another. ACN is however
a one-man conglomerate, a one-man show
that doesn’t tolerate challenges. They cover
up their problems but we clean up our own
home making us more credible than they
are.”
And on if he can perform if he becomes
Lagos State governor, he is very emphatic.
“I will definitely. I will focus on the less
privileged and task the rich to take care of
the poor. And I will certainly succeed be-

cause I will be focused.”
Reaffirming his commitment to grassroots advocacy, he said, “If I was governor, I would have a grassroots governance
scheme in place. The scheme is simply
about putting government in the hands of
the grassroots people. I will give them the
necessary resources, train them adequately and invest extensively on them.
“Vulcanisers for example are important
to the economy but they are still using outdated equipments. I have attended thousands of trade shows so I will introduce the
latest equipment to them so they can drop
the old ways all for the sake of the economy. The latest equipment will make them
work better and be more productive for the
economy. Likewise for bricklayers, welders
and so on.”
Analytically, he said, “Democracy will
soon be an individual thing. It will no
longer be about the party. Oshiomhole for
instance won the Edo State Governorship
based on his individual achievements.
If he had run on any party’s platform, he
would have won all the same so he didn’t
win because he was with ACN. Don’t forget
that he was formerly with Labour Party
and he only left them for ACN because of
funding.”

ome Lagos-based
lawyers have expressed
mixed
feelings on the declaration of self determination by the indigenes of
the Bakassi peninsula.
The News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) recalls
that the Federal Government ceded the area
to Cameroon on Oct. 10,
2002, following the judgment of the International Court of Justice
at The Hague.
However, the Federal
Government did not formally hand over Bakassi
to the Cameroonian government until Augugust
14, 2008.
But on Thursday
the inhabitants of the
area, under the aegis of
Bakassi Self Determination Front, declared
Bakassi an independent
territory, hoisting a
blue, white and red flag
with stars on the blue
surface.

BENIN-CITY

T

he People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
in Edo State has
formally approached the
Governorship Election
Petition Tribunal for Edo
State on Friday seeking
to withdraw from the
petition that the party’s
candidate, Major-General Charles Airhiavbere
(rtd), filed against the
winner and re-elected
Governor of Edo State,
Comrade Adams Aliyu
Oshiomhole.
To this effect, the party
has filed a motion on notice at the tribunal seeking to sever its participation in the pre-hearing
conference that the court
will announce as soon as
it gets the reply of all the
respondents. The party,
which is the second petitioner, is also seeking by
the motion on notice to
strike out its name from
the list of petitioners of
the petition.
Filed on behalf of the
party by Mr. K.O Obamogie, the motion specifically sought: “An order
granting leave to the sec-

ond petitioner to argue
this motion outside the
pre-hearing session and
“An order striking out the
name of the second petitioner from the instant
(that it) is not desirous of
prosecuting and/or maintaining the said petition.”
In a written address
supporting the motion,
the party’s lawyer stated, “On the 2nd of august 2012, the petitioner
filled petition No EPT/
ED/G/01/2012 at this hon-

orable tribunal against respondents seeking relief
with respect to the governorship election held in
Edo State on 14 July 2012.
The second petitioner has
now brought a motion
seeking an order of this
tribunal striking out its
name from the petition.”
The PDP also filled a
notice of change of counsel. In the same motion
papers, the party had announced that it was replacing its former lawyer,

Mr. S.O. Agwinede with
Barr. K.O Obamogie.
It will be recalled that
on Monday, 6th August,
2012, the Edo State PDP
Chairman, Chief Dan
Orbih, issued a release to
journalists in Benin City
stating that the PDP has
decided not to be party to
Airhiavbere’s petition at
the tribunal. The tribunal
Secretary, Mrs. Josephine
Aliu, had stated, however,
during an enquiry by our
correspondent during the

week that it would still
serve the party unless it
receives a formal notice
intimating it of the party’s withdrawal from the
petition.
The tribunal secretary’s reaction was sequel to the decision of
Airhiavbere to pursue his
petition all the same contrary to the directive of
his political party that he
should withdraw his petition and acknowledge the
victory of the winner.

Kidnapped woman hotelier regains freedom in Oron
TONY ANICHEBE
UYO

A

widow and renowned hotelier
in Oron, AkwaIbom State, Mrs. Mary
Abia Okon, who was allegedly kidnapped from
her business location at
Etienam Street, Oron by
a group of gunmen and
taken to an unknown
destination, has regain
her freedom after parting with an undisclosed
amount of money.
Saturday Mirror gathered that Okon, popu-

larly known by her business associates as “Mma
Bakon” was kidnapped
from her hotel premises at about 10pm last
Sunday by gun-touting
men and taken to an unknown place.
Family sources told
Saturday Mirror that
Mma Bakons reportedly
suffered severe beatings from her uninvited
guests during her period
of captivity.
The source told Saturday Mirror that the hoodlums, who disguised as
customers, were served

the drinks they demanded for, but on finishing
the first bottles asked for
another brand of drinks,
which was also served.
At the end, the family
source said the visitors
decided to go without
paying for what the had
consumed and were moving out from the Hotel
when “Mma Bakon’ accosted them to pay their
bills but they threatened
her with a gun.
And while she was
struggling with the kidnapper to collect the
gun, one of the kidnap-

pers kicked her from the
back and bundled her
into their waiting vehicle.
In a chat with the victim after her release,
Mrs. Abia Okon said she
was taken to a place outside Oron town after she
received severe beatings
from the kidnappers.
At press time, the victim who complained of
severe pains in her ears
and nose, attributed her
prompt release to God,
security agents and the
goodwill of members of
the public.

Ondo oil communities cry out over toxic substances
OJO OYEWAMIDE

Group demands
removal of Ondo
dep police boss
OJO OYEWAMIDE
AKURE

A

group,
Ondo
Youth
Movement (OSYM)
has urged the authorities of the Nigeria
Police to redeploy the
state Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Bayo Fadairo, in the
interest of peace. The
group accused Fadairo
of partisanship, saying
he is romancing with
the ruling Labour Party (LP) and Governor
Olusegun Mimiko.
A statement signed
by its chairman, Mr.
Tunji Orioke, said the
Deputy Commissioner
had been transferred
out of the state on several occasions but later
brought back into the
State through the influence of Governor
Mimiko.

AKURE

T

he people of Mahin Kingdom in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State
have called on the state
government and the Federal Ministry of Environment to come to their
aid over strange toxic
substances that have polluted their waterways.
The Paramount Ruler
of Mahin Kingdom, His
Royal Majesty, Oba Lawrence Omowole, who
spoke on behalf of the
communities, told journalists in Akure that
over one hundred towns
and villages in his domain were affected as a
result of oil exploration.
The royal father expressed dismay over the
development, attributing
it to leakages of oil pipelines that traverse the
entire kingdom through
the sea.
Oba Omowole said the
toxic substances had rendered many fishermen in
the area incapacitated as
their fishing equipments
had been damaged and

their waterways polluted.
The monarch stated that
over forty thousand fishermen in their coastal
line had been affected by
the ugly development,
which now calls for attention from all quarters.
Oba Omowole, who
was a former Chairman
of the Ondo State Council
of Obas, accused oil companies operating in the
area of insensitivity. He
lamented that the waste

products of the oil companies discharged into
the sea often resulted to
incessant oil spillage in
his kingdom, killing the
fishes in the waterways.
He called on the Federal Government to take interest in their plight and
prevail on the oil companies to replace all rusted
oil pipelines as this would
serve as a lasting solution
to the problems.
He said: “The toxic

weeds are very strange to
us. They have rendered
the fishermen in my kingdom jobless. Over one
hundred towns and villages are affected by this
ugly development. The
toxic substances are like
weeds. They emanated
from rusted and slippery
nature of some of the oil
pipelines that traverse
our sea and waterways.
“They have destroyed
our fishing equipments

such as speed boats, fishing nets, and trawlers.
They also polluted our
water. The oil companies
operating in these areas
should come to our aid
urgently in the interest of
peace. We no longer have
drinkable water in our
land. My people are passing through unwarranted economic hardship
caused by the activities of
the oil companies,” Oba
Omowole lamented.

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, flanked by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi (l) and Speaker,
Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin (r), during the IFTAR breaking of fast with top government Muslim leaders, at
the Government House Mosque, in Ado-Ekiti, recently.

50

REGIONAL NEWS

August 11, 2012

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

Senator raises the alarm as JTF clamps down on Okene residents
C donates relief
Cop
i f
materials to
Plateau
community
JAMES ABRAHAM
JOS

A serving police officer, Inspector Usman
Dimka, has donated
relief materials to indigent citizens of Kagbwir
in the Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau
State. The materials,
worth thousands of naira, included among other
things, items of clothing
for men, women and children in the community.
In addition, the community has donated land to
him for the construction
of a primary school and
health centre.
Speaking while handing over the items to the
community through the
district head of Kagbwir,
Nde Maurice Danbaba,
on Tuesday in Kagbwir,
Dimka said that the donation was one of the
numerous assistance to
the community and other
less privileged persons he
had come across in his
service as a police officer.

ADEMU IDAKWO
LOKOJA

A

s the Joint Task
Force (JTF) intensifies its effort
in search of suspected
terrorists in the Central
Senatorial District of
Kogi State, Senator Nurrudeen Abatemi-Usman
has raised the alarm
over harsh treatments
allegedly being meted
out on the residents of
Okene by stern-looking
military men.
The JTF, which has
embarked on a house to
house search since they
were drafted to the area
by the Federal Government following the mass
killing of two soldiers
and worshippers in a
church, were said to
have subjected people to
physical torture and humiliation in an apparent
retaliation for the death
of their colleagues.
Abatemi-Usman, who
is representing the Kogi
Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, has called on
residents of the area to
continue to remain calm
and law-abiding saying

he had reported the matter to the heads of various security organisations drafted to prevail
on their troop to restrain
from molesting the innocent citizens .
In a statement signed
by Michael Jegede, Special Assistant on Media
and Publicity to Abatemi-Usman, and made
available to journalists

in Lokoja, the Senator
disclosed that he had
discussed with the leadership of the security
agencies and he had been
assured that they had
been duly cautioned to
concentrate on fishing
out the criminals and not
to punish innocent citizens.
“In line with the information reaching me

concerning the activities
of some security agents
in my district, I have spoken with the Inspector
General of Police (IGP)
and the Chief of Army
Staff (COAS).
The Army chief said
he had cautioned the
commandant of the men
on ground against harassing innocent people.
Their rule of engage-

ment is to fish out criminals only, so they assured
me. We appeal that our
people should remain
calm and law-abiding, as
we pray for God’s relief
and intervention,” Abatemi-Usman stated.
The Senator, however,
commiserated with the
families of the two soldiers killed and the entire Nigerian Army.

n the wake of security challenges beclouding the nation,
the Speaker of the Benue
State House of Assembly,
Hon. Dave Iorhemba, has
enjoined Nigerians to put
the unity of Nigeria uppermost in their minds,
and also work towards
the continued existence
of the nation.
Iorhemba made the assertion yesterday at the
Assembly Complex in
Makurdi, while playing
host to officials of Rebuild Nigeria Initiative
(RNI) led by its coordinator, Mr. Hope Rex Lawson, when the latter paid
him a courtesy visit.

Iorhemba told his
visitors that in spite of
the challenges currently
facing the nation, Nigerians had to be proud
because “our great grand
fathers in their wisdom
co-founded what is today
Nigeria”, insisting that
under no circumstance
should anybody attempt
to cause disaffection that
may lead to dis-membership of its confederating
unit.”
He was optimistic that,
in spite of enormous
problems confronting the
country, the country will
eventually get over the
quagmire and expressed
the desire that all hands
should be on deck to put
to an end the situation
ravaging the nation.

Iorhemba further observed that the initiative
of the organizers of the
programme was worth
promoting and pledged
that efforts should be
geared toward sustaining the goals of the project.
According
to
the
speaker, “this reconciliation process can not
start in any better part
of the country but Benue
State, which is to host
the first programme on
the 25th of August 2012”
and also commended the
foresight for deeming it
fit to kick-start the programme in the state.
In his remark, Rex
Lawson said he was in
the state to intimate

the entire membership
of the Assembly of the
group’s desire to flag
off the campaign aimed
at keeping Nigeria together as one indivisible entity and stressed
the need for every one to
participate.

he Joint Task
Force (JTF) on
Operation
Restore Order (ORO) on
Friday displayed a large
number of arms and
ammunitions it recovered after an operation
in Maiduguri.
JTF Field Commander, Col. Victor Ebhaleme
told newsmen at the occasion that the recovery
followed
intelligence
report savailable to the
JTF from previous arrests.
“A raid was conducted in Maiduguri
metropolis leading to
the recovery of large
arms,’’ Ebhaleme said,
listing the arms as four
AK 47 rifles, one General Purpose Machine
Gun and nine Rapid
Pump Guns.

T

he Gombe State
Water
Board
has started the
rehabilitation of water schemes, boreholes
and hand pumps in the
Gombe metropolis and
other towns, to ensure
sustainable water supply to the citizens of
the state.
General Manager of
the board, Alhaji Isa
Muhammad, disclosed
this in an interview
with the News Agency
of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Gombe.
He said that the repairs were part of the
short-term
measures
to solve the water problem in the state.
Muhammad
explained that out of the
47 boreholes in Gombe
metropolis, only 10 per
cent were functional
before the board embarked on the rehabilitation, adding that
about 70 per cent of the
facilities had been rehabilitated.
According to the general manager, some of
the boreholes had not

Medical personnel of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Adamawa State Command, conducting free medical check up
on members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at Jambutu Central Motor Park in Yola, recently.

functioned for a period
ranging from four to 10
years, adding that erratic power supply from the
Power holding Company
of Nigeria (PHCN) had
also affected the repairs.
He said that officials

of the board had spent
one week in Kumo town,
where all the boreholes
had broken down.
The board, he said,
was also travelling from
village to village repairing hand pumps, even

though it was the duty of
the Ministry of Rural Development.
He said that the board
had also effected repairs
on the Dukku Township
Water Scheme following
a directive by Gov. Ibra-

him Dankwambo.
According to him, the
scheme has been providing water to residents
of the town and its environs four times a week
as against once a week
before the repairs.

ano State indigenous students in
Bayero University, Kano (BUK) yesterday
took to the streets over
non-payment of their
bursary, which they said
runs into several millions
of naira in arrears.
The protest, which
was at the instance of
the National Association
of Kano State Students
(NANS), Bayero University chapter, was staged
in Kano City. The demonstrating students threatened to further hurt the
peace of the state struggling over the effect of
terrorist attacks on the
commercial city if the
state government fails
to respond favourably to
their demand.

KATSINA

S

ome Nigerien nationals
residing
in Katsina have
lamented the “unlawful
detention and extortion”
by officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service
(NIS) in the state.
Their lament followed
a raid by officials of the
NIS at the Layout Area
of the state metropolis
where five Nigeriens
were bundled into a bus
and detained for most
part of yesterday.
Saturday
Mirror
learnt that those detained included Mallams
Lawal, Rabe, Samaila,
Adamu, and Inusa Ahmadu all of them water
vendors with ages ranging from 32 to 45 years.
The development also
followed allegations of
extortions recently made
by some Nigeriens that
immigration
officials
were in the habit of collecting money from them
at checkpoints while in
public transports on the

way out of Katsina to other states.
Speaking with newsmen, the Nigerien nationals reiterated that some
of their people were apprehended and detained,
even after the fact that
their immigration papers were intact and in
order. They lamented

that during detention,
their people were made to
part with money, usually
N1,000 or more and then
given a small card with
some information about
them to serve as means of
identification.
One of them, Abdulrahmon Abubakar, said
he was also detained but

released shortly after
parting with some money,
and that before yesterday,
they were occasionally
made to part with smaller
amounts by the immigration officials.
When newsmen tried to
get reaction of the Comptroller of Immigration,
Umar Bulama, on the is-

sue, he referred them to
the organization’s spokesperson, Murtala Lawal.
Lawal confirmed that the
service carried out a raid
yesterday and that subsequent raids may follow.
He, however, declined to
react on allegations of
extortion and unlawful
detention.

nvestigations
conducted in the commercial city of Kano
at the weekend indicated
that a substantial number of southerners who
fled the city in the wake
of the January 20, 2012
multiple bomb attacks
that claimed several lives
have returned to the state
to commence their businesses.
This is even as residents in Kano are excited
over the gradual return
of peace in the state capital particularly as com-

mercial activities continue to pick up.
Most
panic-stricken
southerners particularly
those from Igbo-speaking
South East, who fled Kano
following the exodus that
characterized the attacks
carried out on the city by
suspected terrorists, are
back in their shops for
their normal business.
Our correspondent reports that in Sabon Gari
area of the city, inhabited
predominantly by non
Muslims and non-natives
with an estimated 2 million Igbo population, business is now in top gear as
most shops shut by their

owners who fled for safety have now reopened, a
development which has
been attributed to improved security lately.
Chukwuemeka
Ibeh
and Ben Okoro, both
spare part dealers, were
among non natives who
fled the city for safety, and
they told Saturday Mirror
that they were back for
good, adding that they left
the town in response to
pressure from their relatives at home who feared
for their safety.
“You don’t leave your
place of business for
home without making
adequate
arrangement

for such movement, it has
been a hell of the sort during the period I was home
doing nothing tangible,”
Ibeh said as he admitted
that most of the media
reports on the conflict did
not reflect substantially
the situation on ground,
thus generating fears in
the minds of people outside Kano and the North
generally.
For Ben, “We are happy that there is relative
peace in the state now and
we hope that the security
agencies will sustain it,
the people’s confidence
is gradually being restored.”

Enugu NESREA sensitizes residents on safe environment
DENNIS AGBO

Hotelier denies
harbouring
kidnappers
NWABUEZE OKONKWO
ONITSHA

T

he
management of Arthur
Garden Hotel,
Nkpor in the Idemili
North Local Government Area of Anambra State, has denied
the allegation that
kidnappers hide in the
complex. This denial
followed the order of
closure of phase 1 of
the hotel by Governor
Peter Obi of Anambra
State last Sunday.
It will be recalled
that Governor Obi,
who was reportedly
accompanied by the
Transition Committee
Chairman for Idemili
North Area Council,
Raphael Nnabuife, and
some security agents to
the Phase 1 of the hotel
at Umusiome Village,
Nkporlast Sunday afternoon, sealed the
hotel on the allegation
that the hotel was habouring kidnappers.

ENUGU

I

n a bid to establish a
healthy, safe and clean
environment that will
create an atmosphere
for enhanced living standards, the National Environmental
Standards
Regulations and Enforcements Agency (NESREA),

Enugu,
Enforcements
Unit, has embarked on
an awareness campaign to
sensitize the general public of the dangers inherent
in an unsafe environment.
The acting state cocoordinator,
Babatunde
Adigun, made this call
while on an inspection
tour to one of the facilities
in Enugu. He stressed that

the public should always
refrain from pollution activities, acts that cause
ozone depletion, deforestation and harmful aquatic
life practices, noting that
we are now witnessing its
cumulative effect results to
climate change.
Adigun revealed that
the agency had carried out
several workshops, cam-

paigns and sensitization
programmes targeted at informing the general public
on the benefits derivable
from practicing standards
in environmental matters
in our society. He further
highlighted the health implications of such negative
environmental practices
adding that the longevity
of human life is tied to op-

timal environmental standards.
Continuing, Adigun eulogized the efforts of the
media in disseminating
information, noting that
NESREA’s objective would
not have gotten to the audience without the media
and called for closer cooperation and partnership
with the media.

L-R: Archbishop of the Catholic Arch-Diocese of Onitsha, Archbishop Valerian Okeke; Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and chairman of the occasion, Dr. Obinna
Uzor, at the Third Annual National Youth Day celebration in Onitsha recently.
PHOTO: NAN

52

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 11, 2012

Crime Watch

P. 53

Kidnappers kill surgeon
over unpaid ransom

BRIEFS

Anambra police rescue
3 kidnap victims

Crime Watch

Salesgirl’s attempt to dupe
employer ends in fiasco
Chizoba Nnozrin is a salesgirl with the Ogbuchis. But one day she disappeared into thin
air. A lot of dust was raised. Suddenly, she resurfaced. Where did she go? Where is the
N500,000 she was asked to go and deposit in a bank?

CHARLES OKEKE
AWKA

A

nambra State Police Command
yesterday announced the rescue
of three victims of kidnapping.
State Commissioner of Police, Bala Nasarawa, at a press briefing on Friday gave
the names of the rescued victims as, Mr
Emeka Augustine, an operations manager
of Zenith Bank, Nkpor; Sir Vincent Ohiagwu and Osita Okafor, who were reportedly
kidnapped on 29th July,2012.
Nasarawa said their rescue was made
possible by the confessions made by four
named suspected kidnappers who were
arrested during a raid at the Arthur Garden Hotel,Nkpor on the 3rd day of this
month.
Nasarawa had, in a press release, issued
during the briefing further stated that the
proprietor of the said hotel whose branches have been sealed off was arrested in
Enugu on the 9th of August,2012.
The Commissioner of Police who
promised that the Command is working
hard to rid the State of all forms of criminality urged members of the public and
indigenes of the state in particular to volunteer useful information that will aid the
police in carrying out its duties of protecting lives and property efficiently.

Man, 37, arraigned
for homicide

A

37-year-old
man,
Aondoaseer Lortile, was on Friday arraigned before a Makurdi Chief
Magistrates’ Court charged with homicide.
The Police Prosecutor, Veronica
Shaage, told the court that one Saaior
Lorliamen reported at the Tse-agberegba Police Station that his 70-year-old
father, Lorliamen Nungwa had been
killed.
The complainant told the police that
on July 12, the accused had a misunderstanding with the deceased which
resulted to a heated argument.
The complainant reported that as the
argument ensued the accused picked up
a motorcycle exhaust pipe and hit the
deceased on the head and his right ribs.
He further told the police that the
deceased was injured as a result of the
attack and was rushed to the clinic but
died later.
The Prosecutor said the accused was
arrested during police investigation and
had allegedly confessed to the crime.
However, when the case came up for
mention, no plea was taken for want of
jurisdiction.

SEGUN ADIO

C

lement and Veronica Ogbuchi,
are husband and wife and they
reside in Lagos. The couple also
own a business venture on the Lagos
Island and have in their employ some
young women as salesgirls.
One of them is 20-year-old Chizoba
Nnozirim. Not long ago, Chizoba was
reportedly given the sum of N500, 000 to
deposit in a bank. She never returned.
Neither could her bosses trace what had
become of their money.
Chizoba was not seen again until Sunday, 22 July, 2012. By the time Chizoba surfaced, the money she was asked to deposit
in the bank was not with her. However,
she did not return alone. She reportedly
turned up with a man, Ben Udochukwu,
who claimed to be an evangelist.
She claimed to have been abducted
by some people and the money with her
snatched. But Udochukwu was not one
of the four men that Chizoba claimed abducted her.
When asked about the whereabouts of
the money her bosses asked her to go and
deposit in a bank, Chizoba claimed that
just as she was about stepping into the
bank, four men accosted her asking for a
particular address by showing her a white
piece of paper.
She also claimed that while she attempted to read the address, one of them
blew a powdery substance into her face
and she lost her senses.
It was from there that Chizoba claimed
she was driven to an uncompleted building, at an unknown destination, where
she was kept with the money.
She also claimed that she was informed by her abductors that she was not
their target but her boss. She claimed they
allowed her to make intermittent contacts
on her phone to her mother, Cordelia, her
relatives and her boss.
According to Chizoba on that Sunday,
July 22, 2012, one of her abductors forcefully collected the money from her, while
the others tied her face with a white handkerchief, pushed her into a waiting car
and drove off.
She claimed she was dumped in a place
which she later discovered to be around
the Mile 2 area of the metropolis. According to her, it was while she was crying that
Evangelist Udochukwu saw her, had pity
on her and took her home to help explain
that actually, she was truly dumped where
he met her.
“My abductors claimed that they
won’t release me until my madam came.
I begged them to let me go, that I was not

Nnozrin

in any way related to my madam and that
I was only her sales girl. I even tried to
explain to them that I am from Imo State
while she is from Anambra. It was at that
point that one of them slapped me across
the face, ordering me to be quiet.
“The next day, they brought food and water for me but I did not touch it. All I needed was for them to release me because I
knew the trauma my mum would be going
through. While there, my madam called
me and they asked me not to pick her calls.
Then, I overheard them saying they would
release me on Sunday since my madam did
not show up. But because I had lost count
of the date and days, I did not know when
Sunday would be,” she claimed.
The day Chizoba was sent to deposit the
money into the bank and did not return,
her boss already lodged a complaint with
the Orile-Iganmu Police Station over the
matter.
While the search for Chizoba was on,
her mother had been a guest of the law
enforcement agents but was later released
with the aid of a lawyer. The case was reportedly moved from Orile-Iganmu Police
Station to the State Criminal Investigations Department, and later to X-Squad at
Ikeja, Lagos.
Thus, when the young woman eventually resurfaced, she was reportedly questioned by the X-Squad where a contrary account to how the money went was revealed.
In the first instance, it was discovered that
while she claimed to have been abducted
by some unknown men and kept in an un-

completed building, from where she spoke
to her relatives on phone, she was actually
having a nice time with her boyfriend, one
Ikechukwu.
Second, the self-acclaimed evangelist,
Udochukwu, was discovered to be an alleged accomplice in Chizoba’s disappearance. He was discovered to be a cousin
of Chizoba’s boyfriend. Udochukwu was
immediately arrested. It was also gathered that police detectives first discovered
Chizoba’s pranks through her call logs before her “captivity.”
A police source working on the case,
who preferred to remain anonymous, said:
“We started first by collecting her phone
from her and when we checked the call
log of the network she uses, we discovered
that a particular person had been calling
her before the day she was reported missing. And when we asked her, she opened up
and told us that the money given to her was
collected from her by conmen. She gave
the name of the woman who collected the
money from her as Iya Opeyemi.”
The police source continued: “In one
of the telephone conversations, Chizoba
asked when she would come for the N10
Million they (Iya Opeyemi and her gang)
promised her. But rather than go back to
her boss, Chizoba went to her boyfriend,
one Ikechukwu where she remained for
days. She fooled everyone by saying she
was abducted by unknown persons. It was
when we were making plans to check the
call log that she resurfaced with the evangelist, who claimed he met her at Mile 2.”

Do you have a story for us? Contact 08138773277 or crimewatchmirror@yahoo.com

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

CRIME WATCH

August 11, 2012

53

Day robbers held Lagos
communities by the jugular

z Shot security man, others; looted shops

Shomolu and Bariga
are two of the popular
and populous areas
of Lagos State.
They are, however,
bedevilled by bursts
of violence. But last
week’s incident
was something
else. SEGUN ADIO
reports.

S

uspected hoodlums had a field
day last Saturday at Shomolu and
Bariga areas of Lagos State when
they went on a looting and shooting
spree.
Saturday, August 4, 2012 was just a
day after the Lagos State government
proclaimed a ban on activities of touts
in motor parks throughout the state.
But before the day was over, suspected
robbers in an operation that lasted nearly an hour, stormed Shomolu and Bariga and left in their trail, two men badly
injured, several shops looted, a Bajaj
motorcycle missing and thousands of
naira stolen.
Indeed, it was a day that would take a
long time to fade in the memory of the
residents of the areas where the suspected robbers operated. About a dozen
hooded and heavily built men stormed
the area brandishing weapons.
The first port of call was Ore Ofero
Street in Bariga. It was around 8:30 in
the evening. At Ore Ofero, the suspected
robbers were said to have headed for the
house of one Taiye, whose twin brother
was allegedly killed on March 12, 2012.
But Taiye was away when the robbers
came. Eyewitnesses said the suspected
robbers were about leaving Ore Ofero
Street when they met someone alighting
from a commercial motor cycle (okada)
in front of a telecommunications mast.

The okada rider was well known to one
of the suspected robbers as a friend of
the Taiye they sought for. The leader of
the group then reportedly accosted Jide,
(for that is the name of the okada rider)
demanding for the whereabouts of Taiye.
Jide tried to flee the scene but was reportedly stopped by a bullet from the gun
fired by one of the suspected robbers. In
the process, Jide was shot in the hand
but he still managed to escape through
a nearby footpath. From there, the suspected robbers reportedly started looting shops and shop owners abandoned
their wares and fled for dear lives.
Before the suspected robbers left the
area, they reportedly looted the shop of
a food seller, popularly called Iya Ibeji.
And there they were said to have also removed N15, 000 from the wallet she abandoned. Also, another Bajaj motor cycle
belonging to one Segun Awotubo was
reportedly taken away.
As if the looting at Ore Ofero Street
was not enough, the suspected robbers were said to have headed for Mary
Bamigboye Street, off Ajisegbede Street.
The area is beside the carnal bordering
Bariga and Shomolu.
At Mary Bamigboye Street, the suspected robbers reportedly shot a security man, identified as Dele Ajobiewe,
said to be guarding the property of a

telecoms’ company. It was learnt that the
suspected robbers had attempted to loot
the facility and Ajobiewe had resisted
them.
For daring to resist them, Ajobiewe
received deep machete cuts all over his
body, while he was also shot in the hand.
A colleague of Ajibiewe, Olumide Peters, was however lucky. Peters reportedly jumped into the canal to escape the
onslaught of the attackers.
In the process, Ajobiewe lost his mobile phone set and some cash. He was later rushed to the General Hospital, Oguntolu, from where he was discharged last
Tuesday. Saturday Mirror spoke with
Ajobiewe’s wife on phone. According to
the woman, her husband narrowly escaped death in the hands of the suspected robbers.
“I thank God that my husband is still
alive today. Let me tell you, with the way
these bad boys are operating now, Bariga
and Shomolu areas have become uninhabitable. Imagine a man that was quietly carrying out his duties being treated
that way. Would he have opened the door
for them to steal the company’s property?” she asked.
After leaving Majiyagbe Street, the
daredevil suspected robbers reportedly
headed for Central Hotel in Adebiyi
Street, shooting into the air as they went.
It was at this point that law enforcement

officers arrived and reportedly checked
the suspected robbers.
The law enforcement agents were
said to be alive to their responsibilities
as they reportedly arrested Tola, said
to be one of the suspected robbers, last
Wednesday. He is said to be in the custody of the police as at press time.
Segun Awotubo, who lost his okada
to the suspected robbers, told Saturday
Mirror that he abandoned his okada and
fled the area for safety for him to return
and discover that his motorcycle had
been taken away by the suspected robbers.
“What happened that day was unbelievable. I narrowly escaped death when
their (suspected robbers’) bullets were
flying from all angles. I had to leave the
motor cycle and run for my life. When
things had normalised, I returned to
where I parked my okada and could
not find it there. I was told by residents
watching the scene that the robbers
took it away,” he said.
Saturday Mirror could not reach
the Divisional Police Officer on phone
as his lines were unavailable. But a policeman attached to the Alade Police
Station confirmed the incident. The
police officer claimed that the arrested
member of the gang is cooperating with
the law enforcement agents to unravel
those behind the raid.

54

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 11, 2012

Crime Extra

Dr. Canice Omeziri was 62 years old
and in love with his people. But when
the time came for them to return the
gesture, something happened. Now, he
is dead and the ransom meant for his
kidnappers is hanging somewhere.

ixty two years old Canice Onyemaechi Omeziri,
a surgeon, loved three things dearly in his life: his
family, work and ancestral roots.
Sadly, the love of the medical practitioner, an indigene
of Umuanaekwe Umuduruaku Umuiheofor in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, for his roots at
Amaraku later turned out to be his undoing. Omeziri was
allegedly kidnapped and later murdered by the unidentified abductors, while in the service of his people.
His wife, also a medical doctor, children and extended
family are currently asking the police authorities to get to
the root causes of his death.
Omeziri, was the proprietor of Rikky Hospital, located
along Ojoo Road, in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government
Area of Lagos State. Omeziri ran the hospital together
with his wife, Francesca, with some other employed
young doctors. Rikky Hospital could be best described as
a success. But Omeziri’s love for his people endeared him
to establish another hospital in Amakpaka Umueli Amaruku, his ancestral roots.
Upon setting up the Amaruku hospital, Omeziri decided to relocate there to personally steer the new hospital to maturity and provide quality medical care to his
people. His medical doctor wife then held the fort at the
Lagos hospital.
But on Sunday, April 15, 2012, death knocked on the
doors of Omeziri and neither his work, family nor the
people he showed so much love came to his rescue.
Omeziri had had tea and bread for dinner in the office,
cleared his table and was ready to leave for home when
five heavily built men allegedly barged into his office. Before he knew what was happening, he was abducted and
held incommunicado for the next 24 hours. He was reportedly whisked away in his own car.
The following day, the kidnappers reportedly made
calls to Omeziri’s relatives demanding N5 million for his
release.
However, the Omeziris initially did not want to yield to
the kidnappers’ demands. Negotiations soon commenced
and after days of intense pleadings, the kidnappers
agreed to release the Canada-trained surgeon for N400,
000:00. The money was raised and reportedly wired to the
abducted man’s brother’s account for express transfer to
the kidnappers.
But the thread allegedly ended there as the transfer of
the money was not done.
When the kidnappers realised that the money was not
forthcoming, they chose to carry out their threat of killing Omeziri. He was allegedly tortured until he breathed
his last and his lifeless body was reportedly found beside
his car in a forest at Naze Owerri not far from the Federal
University of Technology, Owerri junction.
On a visit to Rikky Hospital where the late Omeziri
was Managing Director, the environment was not only
pensive, but gloomy.
Dr Chris, one of the doctors working in Omeziri’s Lagos hospital, claimed that he first heard of the kidnap of
his boss from the deceased’s elder brother who lives in
Aba, Abia State.
“I could not tell my MD’s wife who is also a medical doctor of the incident when I first heard of it. It was a Sunday
and I remember asking those that called the office what the
kidnapers wanted and they said that they (the kidnappers)
had not made their demand known at the time. I called
those who live around my MD’s house to also find out what
happened and was told that some people who arrived at

Omeziri

the place
earlier
said the kidnapers took him
away in his own vehicle,” Chris added.
“They told me on phone
that we should send an amount that
is reasonable to them. I demanded to know
what their definition of ‘reasonable’ was and at the end of
the day we arrived at N400, 000:00. We raised the money
and paid it into my MD’s elder brother’s account for onward transfer to the kidnappers,” he added.
Fighting back the tears that later cascaded down his
face, Chris continued: “For me, I feel my boss would be saying at that time, ‘Oh my people, what have I done to merit
being tortured to death in this jungle’”.
Dr. Francesca Omeziri, wife of the deceased, who was
still in deep shock during Saturday Mirror’s visit, expressed disappointment over the handling of the matter
by the police.
She alleged that a lot of money was extorted from her.
“When we demanded for the result of the autopsy conducted, the police requested I give them money. When I later
went to ask for the mortuary tag number of my husband,
they refused to let me have it, until I parted with some
money,” she claimed.
The deceased’s son, Ugonna Omeziri, also charged the
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar,
to help fish out his father’s murderer, saying only by so doing would he be at peace with himself.
Saturday Mirror learnt that the police arrested one person in connection with the crime. It was also learnt that the

said man
to whose account the N400,
000 ransom fee
was sent was also
quizzed by the police, but
was later released.
It was also learnt from a police
source in the state that the money that
was supposed to have been paid to the kidnappers
as alleged was not paid but was cornered by some people
whose identities were not made known to the reporter.
The police source also said that the suspect arrested
had conflicting accounts of what happened to the ransom
money.
“At one breath, he (the arrested person) claimed that
he paid that money after it had been handed over to him
to the kidnappers, and at another breath, he said that the
money was still with him and that he had not paid the
money before the deceased’s corpse was found,” the police
source added.
Another source at Amakpaka Umueli Amaraku, where
the murdered man lived until his death, claimed that
when some family members decided to accompany one
of the deceased’s brothers to a meeting with the supposed
kidnappers, the said brother refused saying it would not
be good to go to them with a crowd.
According to the source, “He (the deceased’s brother)
also told the person who went with him to alight from the
vehicle so that he alone would meet with the hoodlums, a
demand which some members found to be funny”.
It was learnt, however, that after much argument he allowed only one person to accompany him to meet with the
hoodlums.

Saturday Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

August 11, 2012

55

John Evans Fifi Atta-Mills: 1944 - 2012

Ghana mourns departed Atta-Mills

John Dramani Mahama, who was sworn in as Ghana’s president after the death of Mills, and his wife was on
hand to receive foreign guests

Former President John Kufuor at the burial

Former President Jerry Rawlings at the burial

Jonathan tasks African leaders to emulate Atta-Mills’ virtues

P

resident Goodluck
Jonathan on Friday
in Accra called on
African leaders to emulate
the exemplary leadership
qualities of late Ghanaian
President, John Atta Mills
and his efforts at promoting
the essence of democracy.
Jonathan also applauded and recommended to
emerging democracies on
the continent, the smooth
and prompt transfer of
presidential power to President Dramani Mahama
following the death of Atta
Mills on July 24.

He made the call in a
tribute at the final funeral
rites of Atta Mills at Accra
Stadium.
Jonathan hailed the significant legacy of stable
and enduring democratic
institutions of governance
established and nurtured
since 1992 in Ghana.
He described the late
Atta Mills as a ``dependable
leader, an affable gentlemen, soft spoken but firm, a
self assured man of honour
and of intellect who loved
his country, his continent,
his race and who served hu-

manity with all his heart”.
``John Atta-Mills did his
best as a leader and servant
of his people.
``We honour him today
as a great teacher, administrator and political leader
who dedicated his entire
life to the service of his
country, Africa and humanity.
``The people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
join you in praying that
God Almighty will grant
him eternal rest from his
earthly labours,” he said.
The President assured

Mahama and the people
of Ghana of Nigeria’s continued brotherly solidarity
and friendship.
The President said the
late President was a great
friend of Nigeria and an
affirmed believer in the
shared heritage and common destiny of all Africans.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent in
Accra for the burial, reports
that 16 Heads of State, five
Vice Presidents and other
high-powered international dignitaries attended the
funeral and burial service

Immortalise Atta-Mills, ECOWAS
urges leaders

E

COWAS Commission
President
Kadré Ouedraogo,
has said that the greatest
tribute to the memory of
Ghana’s late President,
Prof. John Atta Mills, is for
the regional leaders to immortalise his ideals.
``The greatest is to immortalise his ideals of
peace building and demonstrate a passion for regional integration which
he lived and died for.’’
``We will miss his wis-

dom, his simplicity, tolerance and quality leadership, which contributed to
the unity and stability of
not only his country, Ghana, but our region and the
African continent,” Ouedraogo told journalists in
Accra.
The ECOWAS Commission president was in the
Ghanaian capital, where
he joined world leaders and
other dignitaries in the funeral ceremonies for the
departed Ghanaian leader

and African Statesman.
The ECOWAS chief described late President Mills
as a great leader and democrat who led by example
and from whom the region
would draw great lessons
in democratic governance.
``As a teacher, he
trained
many
Ghanaians and a number of
Africans,’’Ouedraogo recalled.
The ECOWAS president
who had earlier sent a
condolence message to the
Government, people and
immediate family of the
late Prof. Mills, led a del-

egation of the Commission
and other Community Institutions to pay their last
respects to the departed
leader.
Mills remains were laid
in-State August 7 to 9, 2012,
at designated locations in
Accra, before burial on Friday.
Many ECOWAS leaders and their counterparts
from outside the region
were present to bid final
farewell to the late Ghanaian President, while others
sent high-ranking representations to the three-day
funeral rites.

of the late President at Accra stadium.
Among the dignitaries
were the U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton,

Chairman of AU and President Benin Republic, Boni
Yayi, and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan,
who is also a Ghanaian.

Atta-Mills buried

T

he Late President
John Atta Mills, who
was the Commander-in -Chief of the Ghana
Armed Forces (GAF), was
on Friday buried with full
military honours at the
Geese Park, now called
Asomdwe (Peace) Park, adjacent to the Independence
Square in Accra.
He was buried after a
two-hour funeral service at
the Independence Square
attended by at least a dozen
presidents and delegations
from various parts of the
world.
The dark casket was lowered into the tiled grave at
1515 hours.
The Most Rev. Emmanuel Asante, Presiding Bishop
of the Methodist Church,
performed the committal.
Two minutes’ silence were
observed for the late President.
The Right Reverend
Francis Amenu, Moderator of the Evangelical Pres-

byterian Church of Ghana,
then said the final prayer
and benediction at 1600
hours.
President John Dramani
Mahama, vice president
Kwesi Bekoe AmissahArthur, former First Lady
Ernestina Naadu Mills,
family members, former
President Jerry John Rawlings, ministers of state,
politicians and thousands
of people witnessed the
burial.
President Mahama laid
a wreath, decorated in national colours, on behalf
of the government and
people of Ghana. Other
wreaths were laid by Mrs
Naadu Mills, Dr Cadman
Mills on behalf of the family, Dr (Mrs) Mary Grant on
behalf of the Council of
State, David Asumeng, MP
for Shai Osudoku on behalf
of parliament and Lt.-General Peter Blay, Chief of the
Defence Staff on behalf of
the Security Services.

Quote

of

the

day

The Federal Government controlling the police is a contradiction of democracy. How can less than
500,000 police look over 160 million people? The issue of security is very serious.
Former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, while giving his backing to the call
for state police.

Saturday, August 11, 2012. www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sudan: The broken bridge
O

n July 9, 2011, Sudan became effectively and formally divided
into two countries – Sudan and
South Sudan. After one year, for those
who believed that the separation is the
answer, they may have started to rethink. And for those who did not want
the country separated, they must have
had to accept the inevitable as a result
of the history of, and precedents in,
Sudan. I belong to the later group. I
believed that of all African countries,
Sudan is unique and there is no other
country like it. Sudan was the bridge
between the Arab and the Negro races
of Africa.
Those who believe strongly in African unity leading progressively to an
African Union Government also believe
that internal country by country unity
is highly desirable as an harbinger of
regional unity and finally continental unity. When President Gaafar Mohamed el-Nimeiri secured agreement
on ceasefire and peace in 1972 with the
South, every lover of peace and unity
for Sudan took a deep sigh of relief. But
what was thought to be an agreement
to be scrupulously implemented was
breached on the altar of bad faith, imposition of Sharia nationally and stack
negligence of development of the South
and upon seeming open and concealed

with President Olusegun Obasanjo
hexcellency2011@yahoo.com

SUDAN IS UNIQUE AND THERE IS NO
OTHER COUNTRY LIKE IT. SUDAN WAS THE
BRIDGE BETWEEN THE ARAB AND THE
NEGRO RACES OF AFRICA

discrimination against citizens from
the South in public offices and appointments. Although I could not claim to be
an eyewitness of these discriminatory
actions and tendencies in Sudan, the re-

ports and uncomfortable reactions from
the South were visible.
It was at this point that I took more
than passing interest in salvaging Sudan
as the great racial bridge of Africa. My

SPORT EXTRA

Falconets subdue Korean girls 4-1 in friendly

N

igeria’s women football
team, the Falconets, on Friday continued their build up
to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup
in a warm up match against Widek
University female team in Korea.
A statement by the Falconets Press
Officer, Ejiro Femi-Babafemi, said that
the girls defeated the Koreans 4-1 in a
friendly played at the Namhae Public
Stadium in Korea.
The statement said that Nigeria’s
goals were scored by Ebere Orji, Charity Adule, Chisom Henry and Asisat
Oshoola in both halves of the encounter.
First Assistant Coach, Florence
Omagbemi commended the level
of opposition, saying “it was a good

game for our team and a good build up
to the World Cup.
“So far we are satisfied with the
sides that we have played since coming to Korea,’’ Omagbemi said.
While comparing both matches,
Omagbemi said the girls were good
technically but not tactically better
than the boys.
“Do not forget that all over the
world, boys are better than girls in
football.
“But they should be hailed. They
had a good goal which could have
beaten any keeper,” Omagbemi added.
The friendly produced a yellow
card issued to the Korean side.
Nigeria’s next friendly is scheduled Ebere Orji opened scoring for the Falconets against
for August 13.
the Koreans.

attention and intervention were directed to the leaders of Sudan – President el-Nimeiri himself, his successor,
Al Mahdi, and leaders like Dr. Hassan
Al-Turabi. South Sudan leaders like
Gen. Lagu and Mr. Bona Mawal. I also
called on neighbours of Sudan like
Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
Of course, to embark on my salvaging work, I secured the partnership
and cooperation of a Sudanese intellectual, Francis Deng, who is a Dimka
from the South but fiercely believe in
the unity of his country and would
only brood the idea of separation
only if solution for unity could not be
found on the basis of equity, equality,
fairness and justice. Before our efforts could yield fruits, John Garang
had broken rank with the Sudanese
Army and went to bush with a substantial troops of South Sudan origin
to resume the rebellion. But this time,
Garang was seeking reform and restructuring to have a new Sudan. He
believed passionately that he could
secure such a new Sudan even though,
with my limited knowledge of Sudan, I
was skeptical. Separation was his absolute option if a new Sudan could not